LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  0 
SAM  DIEGO 


£JUUUUWUIMAIUUU1JU1^^ 


EGYPT  3300  YEABS  AGO. 


Barneses  Meiamc.un,  from  the  Alabaster  Statue  in  the 
of  the  Louvre. 


EAMESES  THE  GREAT; 


OB, 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 


rKANSLATKD    FKOM     THE     FRENCH 

or 
F.  DE  LANOYE. 


W1TB    THIRTY-NINB    WOOD    OUTS    Bf    LANOSLOT,    8ZLLIJBB    AND    BAYARD. 


NEW  YOKK : 
CHAELES   SCBIBNER   AND   COMPANY. 

1870 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER  AND  COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  tho 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


ALVORD,    PRINTER. 


TO  THE  VICOMTE  E.   DE  BOUGE\ 
This  historical  study,  inspired  by  his  labors  and  indebted  to 

them  for  its  best  pages, 
IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED, 

if  not  as  the  work  of  an  expert  pupil,— for  the  author  dare  not 
assume  that  title, — at  least  as  a  feeble  testimonial  of  the  pro- 
found gratitude  which  the  illustrious  master  of  Egyptian  lore 
has  the  right  to  claim  of  every  one  engaged  in  seeking  out  the 
origin  of  human  society,  and  new  foundations  on  which  to  es- 
tablish history. 

F.  DE  LAKOTB. 

PABIS,  December  1, 1865. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  CAMPAIGNS  OF  RAMESES  THE  GREAT. 

PAGB 

The  Basin  of  the  Nile  and  its  First  Colonists.— Races  of  Men 
known  in  Egypt  Fifteen  Centuries  before  the  Birth  of  Christ. 
— Pre-Historic  Chronology  of  the  Egyptian  Empire. — 
Menes,  the  First  Founder  of  a  Dynasty. — Discordance 
between  Epigraphy  and  Geology. — The  Irruption  of  the 
Hycsos.— National  Rivalries  and  Wars. —The  Eighteenth 
Dynasty 1 

RAMESES  IL 

Rameses  II. — Mei-Amoun  the  Great,  otherwise  known  as 
Sesostris. — The  Names  of  Rameses  ;  his  Childhood  ;  his 
Youth  ;  his  Coronation. — A  Consecration  Thirty-three 
Centuries  Ago. — Social  Rank  in  Egypt,  and  the  People, 
at  that  Period  of  its  History 61 

THE  CAMPAIGNS  OF  RAMESES  THE  GREAT. 

Situation,  "Wealth  and  Population  of  Egypt,  on  the  Accession 
of  Rameses. — The  plausible  Motives  for  his  Expeditions. — 
Two  Razzias  at  an  Interval  of  Thirty-three  Centuries.  —De- 
parture of  Rameses  for  Asia. — His  Army. — Testimony  of 
Tacitus,  Herodotus,  Strabo  and  the  Monuments. — A  Bulle- 


CONTENTS. 

•MB 

tin  of  Victory,  and  a  Poet  Laureate  of  the  Fourteenth  Cen- 
tury before  our  Era. — The  Battle  of  Atesh. — The  return  of 
Rameses 97 


THE  MONUMENTS  OF  E AMESES  THE  GREAT. 

The  Testimony  of  Herodotus,  of  Diodorus,  and  of  the  Bible. — 
Memphis  and  Thebes. — the  Great  Days  of  Royalty. — An 
Artesian  Well  in  the  time  of  Rameses. — The  Land  of 
Gush.  —  The  Spears  of  Ipsamboul. — The  old  Age  of  Ram- 
eses.— Skeletons  of*  Oxen  and  Skeletons  of  Kings. — Darius 
and  the  Statue  of  Rameses • 161 

APPENDIX. 

L     The  Cushites 249 

IL     The  Temple  of  Denderah 250 

IIL     The  Ancient  Bed  of  the  Nile 252 

IV.     The  Shepherd  King  Apapias  and  the  God  Sutekh 253 

V.    The  Names  of  Rameses  II 254 

VL     The  linages  of  Ancestors 257 

VIL     The  Army  of  Rameses  IL— the  Military  Caste 261 

VHL     The  Robus 263 

IX.     Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Egyptians 264 

X.    The  Stele  of  the  Temple  of  Khons 281 

XL  Chronological  Canon,  or  Table  of  the  Dynasties  and 

Kings  of  Egypt 287 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Barneses  Mei-Amoun.     From  the  alabaster  statue  in  the  Mu- 
seum of  the  Louvre.     (Frontispiece.)  PAGB 

The  Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx. .    9 

Peoples  known  to  the  Egyptians 17 

The  Temple  of  Denderah  (restored) 27 

The  Smaller  Temple  at  Philae 39 

The  Temples  of  Philse  (restored) 43 

Hypostylic  Hall  at  Karnak 55 

The  Avenue  of  Rams 71 

An  Egyptian  Princess 75 

The  Interior  Court  of  Karnak 81 

The  Sphinx  of  Eameses  IL 87 

Eoyal  Scribes 109 

Egyptian  Cavalry 113 

Egyptian  Infantry 119 

Bas-relief  of  Sesostris 123 

Asiatic  Enemies  of  the  Egyptians 131 

Barneses  in  Battle 139 

The  City  of  Atesh 147 

Pylons  and  Portico  of  a  Grand  Temple , 169 

View  of  Thebes  during  an  Inundation 173 

Colossi  of  Amenoph  III.,  or  Memmon 177 

A  Palace  Temple  of  Thebes  (bird's-eye  view) 181 

The  Eesidence  of  an  Egyptian  of  rank 185 

The  Kameseum.     Hall  of  the  Colossus 189 

The  Eameseum.     Hall  of  the  Caryatides 193 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Slaves  under  the  Eighteenth   Dynasty,  making  brick 197 

Captives    building    a    Temple 201 

A    Hypostylic   Hall 203 

Present  Aspect  of  Ibrim 217 

The  Speos  of  Athor 221 

The  Speos  of  Phra 225 

Interior  of  the  Speos  of  Phra 229 

FaQade  of  the  Speos  of  Ipsamboul 233 

A  Mummy   in    its  Bandages 238 

Case  containing  a  Mummy    239 

Interior  Coffin 239 

Exterior  Coffin 240 

Sarcophagus 241 

Royal  Cartouche  of  Barneses  Mei-Amoun 245 

Hieroglyphics  of  the  Names  of  Egyptian  Kings 255-257 

Asiatic  Nomads. . ,  .281 


EGYPT     BEFORE    THE 
TIME   OF   RAMESES. 


EGYPT  BEFORE  THE  TIME  OF 
RAMESES. 


The  Basin  of  the  Nile  and  its  First  Colonists. — Kaces  of  Men 
known  in  Egypt  Fifteen  Centuries  before  the  Birth  of  Christ.— 
Pre-Historic  Chronology  of  the  Egyptian  Empire. — Menes,  the 
First  Founder  of  a  Dynasty. — Discordance  between  Epigraphy 
and  Geology. — The  Irruption  of  the  Hycsos. — National  Rivalries 
and  Wars. — The  Eighteenth  Dynasty. 


WHEN  the  traveller  from  Europe  directs  his 
course  toward  the  southeast  angle  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, he  must  not  expect  to  see  the  African 
country  reveal  itself  to  his  gaze  in  those  majestic 
aspects  to  which  the  Alpine  landscapes  of  Liguria, 
the  Tyrrhenian  Islands,  Italy  or  Greece  may  have 
accustomed  him.  Upon  that  part  of  the  African 
coast  which  directly  confronts  Asia  Minor,  there 
is  nothing  of  the  kind ;  a  reddish  mist,  due, 
no  doubt,  to  the  rarefaction  of  the  atmosphere, 
heated  by  the  combined  action  of  the  sand  and 


4  EGYPT   3300   YEAKS  AGO. 

the  sun,  is  the  first  indication  of  the  vicinity  of 
land  that  appears  on  the  horizon :  the  second  is 
presented  by  the  sight  of  a  few  palm-tree  tops 
reflected  high  in  the  air  by  the  refraction  of  the 
vapory  mass.  At  length,  almost  at  the  moment 
when  you  are  about  to  touch  it,  the  low,  sandy 
beach  that  sustains  them  is  seen,  like  a  thin,  red- 
dish line,  a  feeble  boundary  between  the  deep 
green  of  the  sea  and  the  pale  blue  of  the  heavens. 
Beyond  that  line,  marshes  whose  extent  has 
earned  them  the  title  of  lakes,  and  moving  sands,  are 
forever  renewing  with  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and 
the  cultivation  bestowed  upon  it,  the  antique  strug- 
gle between  the  two  brothers  Typhon  and  Asiri.* 
Then,  behind  that  second  zone,  a  wide  plain, 
almost  level  with  the  water  and  intersected  by 
numerous  canals,  extends  toward  the  south,  grad- 
ually narrowing  as  it  goes,  up  to  the  point  where 
these  canals  and  the  river  which  feeds  them  diverge 
in  a  triangle  toward  the  sea.  This  river  is  the  Nile  : 
this  plain  is  its  Delta,  a  tract  periodically  submerged 
for  three  months  at  a  time,  by  the  waters  that  have 
formed  it, — "  a  carpeting  of  verdure,  of  flowers  and 

*  This  we  think  is  the  more  exact  spelling  of  the  classic 
Osiris.  Asiri  =  Asnra,  one  of  the  oldest  titles  employed 
by  man  to  designate  God.  See  E.  Burnouf's  Commentary 
on  the  Yaena  ;  and  Jean»Reynaud's  study  on  Zoroaster. 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO.  5 

of  rich  harvests  from  November  until  March, — a 
cracked  and  burning  soil,  laden  with  a  black,  im- 
palpable dust  during  the  remainder  of  the  year," — 
says  Amrou  in  a  letter  to  the  Caliph  Omar. 

At  the  apex  of  the  Delta,  the  horizon  ascends  and 
gradually  contracts  from  the  southeast  toward 
the  west.  At  that  point,  the  crests  of  the  hills 
which,  all  the  way  from  the  ridges  of  Upper  Africa, 
shut  in  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Nile  between  their 
parallel  chains  and  shelter  it  from  the  continually 
threatening  invasions  of  the  deserts  that  it  crosses, 
subside  and  are  at  length  lost  beneath  the  sand. 
At  the  foot  of  the  Mokattan,  the  last  broad 
slope  of  the  Arabian  chain,  stretches  the  modern 
city  of  Cairo.  Nearly  opposite,  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  river,  a  salient  angle  of  the  Libyan  chain 
serves  as  a  pedestal  to  the  eternal  pyramids  whose 
gigantic  shadows  the  setting  sun  flings  far  over  the 
groves  of  palm  trees  that  now  cover  the  space  where 
Memphis  stood. 

"  Placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile," 
says  Chateaubriand  in  Les  Martyrs,  "  they  look  like 
the  mourning  portals  of  Egypt,  or  rather  like  some 
triumphal  monument  reared  to  Death  to  commemo- 
rate his  victories.  Pharaoh  is  there  with  all  his 
people,  and  their  sepulchres  are  around  him  !" 


6  EGYPT   3300   YEABS  AGO. 

H. 

Six  degrees  of  latitude  separate  this  point  from 
the  one  where  almost  immediately  under  the 
tropic  circle,  the  Nile,  traversing  the  granitic  rocks 
of  Syene  and  of  Philse,  penetrates  the  Egyptian 
territory.  Beyond,  toward  the  South,  extends  Nubia. 
In  this  space  of  more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  in  length,  by  a  breadth  of  nearly  twenty,  the 
brilliant  glow  of  the  sky,  the  freshness  of  the  waters, 
the  fertility  of  the  plain  and  the  aridity  of  its  borders ; 
the  extreme  pettiness  of  all  the  traces  that  modern 
man  has  left  of  his  presence,  and  the  colossal  seal 
of  the  antique  generations, — contrasts  of  every  kind, 
in  a  word, — seem  to  be  accumulated,  to  strike  the 
beholder  with  prolonged  astonishment. 

Here  the  geologist  may  recognize,  as  he  does  in 
the  Delta,  a  conquest  won  by  the  dry  land  over  the 
sea, — a  gulf  filled  up,  since  the  last  great  astronom- 
ical revolution  of  our  globe,  by  deposits  of  clay 
that  the  lapse  of  ages  had  heaped  there  after  it  had 
been  washed  down,  each  spring,  from  the  abrupt 
slopes  of  Abyssinia  and  from  those  other  moun- 
tains, unknown  until  yesterday,  but  suspected,  for 
two  thousand  years,  to  be  in  existence,  which,  away 
beyond  the  Equator,  conceal  the  long-soug  it-foi 
sources  of  the  Nile. 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS  A<JO.  ' 

Here,  too,  the  antiquary  and  the  poet  may  con- 
template the  most  gigantic  efforts  of  plastic  art 
that  any  race  has  left  behind  it :  temples,  palaces, 
tombs,  obelisks  and  colossal  figures  half  ruined  and 
buried  beneath  the  sand;  crypts  cut  out  in  the 
solid  rock ;  catacombs ;  cities  of  the  dead  perpetuat- 
ing in  the  very  entrails  of  the  desert  mountains, 
those  ruins  which  were  the  cities  of  the  living ! — 
a  long  avenue  of  fragments  and  remains  dating 
back  to  an  epoch  whereof  history  lacked  the  an- 
nals more  than  twenty  centuries  ago,  but  which  the 
correlation  of  the  monuments,  the  religious  notions 
and  the  institutions  of  an  entire  people  with  the 
surroundings  in  the  midst  of  which  it  grew,  seem  to 
characterize  so  peculiarly  that  no  other  epoch 
could  comprehend  or  explain  its  fundamental  mean- 
ing and  creative  idea,  much  less  successfully  attempt 
to  take  them  for  a  model. 


in. 


IT  was  reserved  for  the  generation  that  is  dying 
out  to  penetrate,  and  not  in  vain,  the  depths  of 
these  enigmatical  ruins  ;  to  disentomb  from  them 
the  past,  and  to  restore  to  it  the  real  aspect  that 


8  EGYPT  3300  YEARS   A.GO. 

once  it  wore,  along  with  a  part  of  its  lost  chrono- 
logy- 
Thanks  to  the  acquisitions  of  modern  science, 

for  whose  progress  the  genius  and  the  blood 
of  France  have  helped  to  clear  the  way ;  thanks  to 
the  unhoped-for  deciphering  of  those  monumental 
inscriptions  through  which  the  Egyptians  of  forty 
centuries  ago  seem  still  to  converse  with  the  men  of 
our  own  time,  the  historian  can  at  length  present 
to  them  upon  their  sepulchres  testimony  more  cer- 
tain and  reliable  than  classic  antiquity,  in  the  days 
of  its  decline,  could  offer  in  their  behalf. 

Although  the  idea  of  again  securing  the  thread, 
a  hundred  times  broken,  of  Egyptian  tradition, 
must  be  once  for  all  abandoned,  we  have  it  in  our 
power  to  reconstruct  the  most  brilliant  part  of  it 
almost  to  perfection.  The  period  that  it  covers 
flourished  in  times  which  nations  the  most  jealous  of 
their  antiquity  do  not,  in  their  authentic  records, 
pretend  to  have  attained. 

Henceforth,  enabled  to  appreciate  the  weight  of 
Egypt  in  the  balance  of  the  world,  historical  criti- 
cism is  called  upon,  also,  to  judge  of  the  manner  in 
which  she  has  fulfilled  the  functions  that  seemed  to 
have  been  assigned  to  her  by  Providence,  viz.,  the 
protection  of  nascent  civilization  against  the  native 
barbarism  of  the  wandering  tribes  that  hung  around 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO.  11 

its  outskirts,  and  the  initiation  of  the  savage  races 
of  the  Mediterranean  valley  into  the  peaceful  mys- 
teries of  agriculture  and  industry.  In  fine,  it  is 
easy  to  make  out  how  the  empire  must  have  per- 
ished, and  its  colossal  model  have  disappeared  from 
the  Earth,  on  the  day  when  humanity  ceased  to  be 
split  up  into  a  few  hostile  groups,  separated  as 
much  by  space  as  by  animosity ;  and  when  the 
vital  energy  of  social  communities,  the  exclusive 
privilege,  at  first,  of  castes  and  classes  restricted  in 
number,  began  to  be  distributed  among  all  the 
members  of  the  social  body. 


IV. 

THE  lofty  plateau  of  equatorial  Africa  that  ex- 
tends beyond  the  fifteenth  degree  of  north  latitude 
in  Abyssinia  and  the  twelfth  in  the  Wadai,  seems  to 
recede,  between  those  two  extreme  points,  as  far 
southward  as  some  distance  beyond  the  Equator, 
whence  it  sinks  towards  the  North,  in  a  vast  con- 
cave depression,  of  which  the  Nile  occupies  the  low- 
est part. 

Issuing  from  the  only  source  worthy  of  it,  a  sort 
of  fresh  water  sea  covering  the  highest  levels  of  this 


12  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

table-land,  the  great  African  river  that,  to  use  the 
expression  of  Herodotus,  has  created  Egypt,  descends 
by  a  series  of  cataracts  into  the  plains  of  the  Baris, 
the  Djirs  and  the  Donkas,  which  are  dotted  with 
lakes  and  streamlets,  and  then  into  the  country 
where  the  Shillooks  have  taken  the  place  of  the 
old Automoli  or  refugees.*  The  water  sheds  on  its 
left,  pour  into  its  tide  during  this  journey  a  great 
number  of  tributaries  which  are  still  unnamed  in 
history.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Abyssinian  moun- 
tain mass  sends  to  it,  on  its  right  bank,  some  pow- 
erful affluents  of  which  two  at  least,  the  Abawi  and 
the  Taccaze,  were  know  to  the  earliest  geographers 
under  the  names  Astapus  and  Astaboras. 

A  characteristic  trait  of  this  river,  and  one  that 
at  first  sight  distinguishes  it  on  the  map  of  the 
globe,  is  the  rectilinear  direction  of  its  basin.  The 
30th  meridian  eastward  of  Paris,  one  of  the  three 
that  traverse  the  great  sheet  of  water  know  as  Lake 
Nyanza,  crosses  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Delta  at 
the  distance  of  a  thousand  leagues  from  there,  and 
during  the  interval  the  Nile,  that  seems  to  entwine 


*  Herodotus  gives  this  name  to  the  Egyptians  who  aban- 
doned their  country,  under  the  reign  of  Psammeticus,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  intrusion  of  foreigners  into  public  office, 
and  of  Greek  and  Ionian  condottieri  into  the  ranks  of  the 
army. 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES   AGO.  13 

itself  around  it  like  the  sacred  urwus  around  the 
antique  cadwxus,  intersects  it  eight  times  at  least 
with  its  windings,  without,  in  any  instance,  receding 
more  than  forty  leagues  from  it  in  its  farthest  di- 
vergence. 

But  in  other  respects,  it  alone  among  the  great 
rivers  of  the  world  is  not  swollen  by  any  affluent  in 
the  last  third  of  its  course,  which  it  pursues  in  sol- 
itary grandeur  for  the  distance  of  four  hundred 
leagues,  between  two  deserts  whose  sands,  cut  off 
from  the  rains  of  the  tropics,  greedily  absorb  its 
waters  without  yielding  it,  in  return,  the  tribute  of 
the  feeblest  rivulet  or  torrent. 

The  isolation  of  this  portion  of  the  basin  in  which 
it  dwelt  constituted  the  strong  point  of  Egyptian 
society  during  the  period  of  its  development.  With 
few  exceptions  the  migrations  of  tribes  and  races 
that  then  wandered  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth, 
swept  past,  either  above  or  below  it.  Herein  lay 
the  secret  of  the  form  that  it  assumed  ;  of  the  pro- 
longed existence  that  was  accorded  it,  and,  let  us 
hasten  to  add,  of  its  weakness  when  the  hour  of  its 
downfall  had  arrived. 


14  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 


V. 


ALL  who  have  devoted  any  time  to  observation  of 
the  territory  and  history  of  Egypt,  from  Herodotus 
to  Champollion,  were  under  the  impression  that 
the  Nile,  as  it  has  brought  soil  and  fertility  to 
Egypt,  had  likewise  brought  it  men  and  civilization, 
and  that  the  latter  descended  with  it  from  the  south 
to  the  north. 

A  contrary  opinion  prevails,  at  present,  among 
the  learned  in  Egyptian  matters.  Many  of  them, 
those  especially  who  are  somawhat  under  the  influ- 
ence of  German  philosophy,  affirm  that  the  earliest 
settlers  and  earliest  civilization  commencad  their 
work  in  the  basin  of  the  Nile,  on  the  north,  and 
that  they  ascended,  instead  of  descending,  the 
river. 

This  difference  of  opinion  is  more  apparent  than 
real,  since  it  has  reference,  fundamentally,  only  to 
the  line  followed  by  the  migrations  between  the 
point  of  departure  and  the  point  of  arrival,  and  in 
bath  hypotheses,  the  primitive  cradle  of  the  Egyp- 
tians and  of'their  instructors  must  be  sought  for  in 
Asia. 

Among  the  mummies  which  the  Egyptian  cata- 
combs and  places  of  burial  daily  yield  to  our  exam- 


EGYPT   3300   YEAKS  AGO.  15 

ination,  modern  anatomists  think  that  they  are  able 
to  distinguish  three  separate  classes  :  the  first  com- 
prising the  ancestors  of  the  Copts  properl)  so- 
styled,  the  form  of  whose  crania  recalls  the  shape 
of  the  heads  of  the  statuary  and  the  sphinxes  of 
Thebes ;  the  second  bears  some  analogy  to  the 
Hindoo  type,  and  the  third  seems  to  be  akin  to  the 
Nubian  tribes,  and  the  same  savants  connect  it,  as 
well  as  the  Copts,  with  the  Berber  race. 

All  who  still  cherish  a  disciple's  remembrance 
of  the  eminent  men  who  were  the  preceptors,  so  to 
speak,  of  those  who  to-day  are  the  masters  of  his- 
torical science, — of  the  Yolneys,  the  Heerens  and 
the  Ecksteins — will,  very  justly,  be  astonished 
when  they  miss  from  among  the  tribes  set  down  as 
the  ancestors  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  the  Cush- 
ites  or  Negroes  who  have  left  their  indelible  stamp 
upon  the  religions  notions  of  the  people.  For  our 
part,  since  we  have  but  little  faith  in  the  expression 
human  races,  but  a  great  deal  in  the  modifica- 
tions of  the  family  of  man  effected  by  the  combined 
action  of  physical  and  moral  surroundings  ;  by  the 
influence  of  climate ;  of  the  rules  of  health  ob- 
served, and  the  institutions  maintained,  and  by  the 
emanations  of  soil  and  sun,  we  shall  confine  our- 
selves to  another  source  of  information.  We  shall, 
upon  this  much  debated  subject,  question  the  tombs 


16  EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO. 

of  the  Pharaohs  excavated  in  the  Libyan  chain  to 
the  westward  of  Thebes,  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
princes  whose  last  resting-places  they  became. 

The  perfection  of  the  adornment  and  the  finish 
of  the  workmanship  on  each  of  them  are  in  propor- 
tion to  the  duration  of  the  reign  of  the  guest  whom 
they  were  to  receive.  But  upon  the  walls  of  all  of 
them  where  time  had  admitted  the  finishing  stroke, 
dating  from  the  nineteenth  dynasty,*  the  mysteri- 
ous artist  has  carved  and  painted  the  images  of  the 
principal  fractions  of  the  human  race  known  in  his 
time. 

Conducted,  one  and  all,  by  Horus,  the  pastoral 
god  of  the  nations,  they  are  generally  arranged  in 
four  groups  corresponding  with  the  four  divisions 
of  the  world  then  known.  The  group  farthest  away 
from  the  god  consists  of  savages  of  lofty  stature,  with 
light  or  sandy  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  straight  or  slightly 
rounded  features.  Tattooed  and  covered  with  the 
spoils  of  the  auroclis  and  the  bear,  just  as  those  late 
comers  in  old  Europe,  the  Gauls  and  the  Cimbri,  ap- 
peared to  the  affrighted  Greeks  and  Romans,  in  after 
ages,  did  the  ancient  Pelasgi  appear  fifteen  centuries 
before  the  Christian  Era,  to  the  erudite  and  culti- 

*  The  nineteenth  only.  The  geographical  knowledge 
which  these  paintings  pre-suppose  does  not  appear  to  have 
existed  any  earlier.  This  is  a  good  point  to  establish. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  19 

vated  Egyptians.  The  latter  called  them  Tamhus. 
In  the  group  that  precedes  them,  are  strikingly 
observable  all  the  characteristics  of  the  negro  type 
in  its  most  degraded  varieties,  and  to  these  legend 
gives  the  name  of  Nahazis. 

In  advance  of  them,  again,  are  the  representa- 
tives of  Asia.  Their  yellow  and  tawny  complex- 
ions ;  their  aquiline  or  beaked  noses ;  their  black 
beards,  sharp  and  pointed  on  some,  ample  and 
curly  on  others ;  their  costumes  of  varied  hue  and 
fashion,  indicate  members  of  the  Aramaean  branches  : 
Arabs,  Hebrews  and  Assyrians.  On  some  walls, 
Medes  and  lonians  figure  among  these  sons  of 
Shem.  All  of  them  are  comprised  in  the  general 
denomination  of  Aamus.  Lastly,  standing  close  to 
the  heathen  divinity,  and,  as  it  were,  under  his 
special  protection,  are  men  of  dark  red  skins  and 
tall  slender  figure,  with  gentle  and  regular  counte- 
nances, clear  cut  eyes,  straight  noses  and  open  facial 
angle,  wearing  their  hair  in  plaits,  and  dressed  in 
white  garments.  The  name  of  Rut-n-Bom — the 
germ,  or  the  race  of  man — with  which  they  are 
specially  honored,  sufficiently  point  out  the  dwellers 
on  the  banks  of  the  sacred  river, — in  other  words, 
the  Egyptians. 

The  typical  characteristics  here  associated  with 
them,  identical  on  all  the  monuments  and  verified 


20  EGYPT  3300  YEABS  AGO. 

upon  thousands  of  mummies  of  different  epochs,  are 
not  found  among  the  Copts,  their  mongrel  descend- 
ants. Amid  the  confused  mixture  of  all  the  nations 
that  have  succeeded  each  other  in  Egypt,  the  Copts 
have  retained  the  idiom,  better  than  the  blood,  of 
the  old  race.* 

The  latter,  whose  presence  may  be  traced  at  nu- 
merous points  on  the  African  continent,  is  met  with 
again,  in  all  its  original  purity,  in  two  nations 
who  dwell  in  the  basin  of  the  Nile,  but  at  a  wide 
distance  from  each  other, — the  Abyssinians  of  the 
upper  plains,  and  the  Barabras  of  lower  Nubia, 
sheltered  as  they  have  been,  the  latter  by  poverty, 
the  former  by  the  natural  strength  of  their  soil, 
from  the  invasions  of  conquerors,  and  from  the 
current  of  the  migrations  which,  in  the  lapse  of 
ages,  has  passed  between  them  and  isolated  them, 
leaving  them  divided  and  far  apart,  yet  kindred 
boughs  of  a  parent  trunk  that  has  ceased  to  exist. 

*  Champollion's  Letters  on  Egypt  and  Nubia.  Larrey's 
Memoirs,  in  the  Description  of  Egypt.  Oaillaud's  Journey 
to  Meroe  and  the  White  Nile.  Tremeaux's  Journey  to 
Nubia,  etc. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  21 


VI. 


SHOULD  the  logic  of  induction  lead  us,  more  than 
once,  in  the  course  of  this  recital,  to  admit  extracts 
from  Manetho  among  the  material  upon  which  his- 
torical conclusions  are  based,  it  must  not,  for  that 
reason,  be  inferred  that  we  are  inclined  to  accord  to 
the  remaining  works  of  that  old  annalist,  and  espe- 
cially to  his  lists  of  kings  and  dynasties,  analogous 
authority. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  inquire  whether  that  Egyptian 
priest,  entrusted  with  the  task  of  collecting  in  the 
Greek  language  all  the  national  traditions  stored 
away  among  the  sacerdotal  archives  of  his  country, 
was  or  was  not  equal  to  his  mission.  Of  the  three 
volumes  that  composed  his  work,  a  few  fragments, 
drowned  in  the  compilations  of  later  periods,  and 
lists  of  kings  revised,  corrected  and  abridged  by  the 
monastic  zeal  of  the  early  Christians,  being  all,  un- 
fortunately, that  have  come  down  to  us,  it  would  be 
unjust  to  hold  the  author  responsible  for  all  the 
contradictions  of  dates,  facts  and  figures  as  well  as 
the  double  applications  that  these  different  frag- 
ments contain. 

But,  when  we  consider  the  complete  discordance 
that  exists  between  these  documents  of  common 


22  EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO. 

origin  and  those  whence  Herodotus  had  drawn  his 
facts  two  centuries  earlier,  and  weigh  the  conflicting 
views  whereby  they  have  strayed  from  the  ancient 
source  that  should  have  supplied  them,  and  which, 
surviving  in  our  day  under  the  name  of  the  Old 
Chronicles,  gives  only  four  hundred  and  forty-three 
years  to  the  fifteen  earliest  dynasties  to  which  Man- 
etho  assigns  forty  or  fifty  centuries,  we  must  agree 
with  one  of  the  most  judicious  investigations  of  an- 
tiquity, that  it  is  improbable  that  an  Egyptian  priest 
compiling  with  all  the  prejudices  of  his  caste  in  a 
foreign  tongue,  and  in  behalf  of  a  king  whom  he 
regarded  as  of  barbarian  origin,  the  traditions  of  an 
expiring  nationality  scattered  on  monuments  of  di- 
verse and  often  rival  purport,  should  be  specially 
endowed  with  that  spirit  of  criticism  in  whose  de- 
fault history  relapses  into  legend,  and  which  was 
almost  entirely  wanting  in  the  ancients.* 

At  the  close  of  this  work  will  be  found  a  faithful 
synopsis  of  Manetho's  lists,  such  as  they  emanated 
from  the  hands  of  Julius  Africanus,  Eusebius  and 
Syncellus :  such,  too,  as  Champollion  and  his  suc- 
cessors thought  they  could  make  them  by  correct- 
ing the  figures  according  to  the  monumental  inscrip- 
tions. We  have  also  reserved  the  right  to  range  to- 
gether a  certain  number  of  facts,  the  synchronism 

*  Volney's  Researches  in  ancient  History. 


EGYPT  3300   YEABS  AGO.  23 

of  which  is  well-nigh  certain,  and  may  serve  to  estab- 
lish some  rallying  points  upon  the  floating  canvas 
of  Egyptian  chronology,  and  prepare  for  it  a  frame- 
work beyond  which  it  cannot  very  easily  escape. 


VII. 

IT  is  not  consistent  with  the  plan  of  our  book  to 
extend  this  chronological  study  any  farther.  Such 
as  it  is,  it  must  suffice  the  reader  for  a  basis  where- 
on to  form  his  own  opinion  of  the  matter,  and  to 
choose  between  the  system  that  would  push  back 
into  the  night  of  ages  the  development  of  the  Egyp* 
tian  nationality,  and  the  one  that,  relying  upon  the 
study  of  social  facts,  and  upon  the  nature  of  man, 
holds  that  the  more  the  torch  of  history  gains  in 
clearness,  the  more  concise  should  chronology  be- 
come and  ancient  times  approach  our  own. 

The  eternal  aspiration  of  the  human  mind  toward 
a  felicity  which  the  present  denies  it,  and  which 
it  could  not  ask  of  the  future,  so  long  as  it  was  un- 
aware of  its  own  progressive  faculties,  was  undoubt- 
edly the  source  of  the  mania  that  impelled  all  com- 
munities to  antedate  their  origin  and  throw  it  back 
into  a  past  that  was  all  the  more  regretted  that  its 


24  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

depths  were  the  more  obscure.  In  those  days,  na- 
tions, as  in  more  recent  times  families,  gauged  their 
nobility  not  by  deeds  but  by  the  duration  of  their 
existence.  Hence,  for  historians  jealous  as  to  the 
origin  of  their  country,  arose  the  necessity  of  mul- 
tiplying generations  and  centuries,  and  of  ranging  in 
series,  one  after  the  other,  successions  of  dynasties 
and  parallel  epochs,  along  with  contemporaneous 
men  and  facts.  Hence,  too,  for  Manetho,  in  partic- 
ular, the  necessity  of  conforming  his  annals  to  the 
fabler  credited  by  the  puerile  vanity  of  the  priestly 
order,  and  of  spreading  out  the  real  traditions  of 
his  country  in  a  chaos  without  proportion,  name  or 
limit. 

Serious  history,  then,  cannot  carry  these  tradi- 
tions farther  back  than  the  period  where  they  cease 
to  be  controlled  by  positive  synchronic  data.  The 
first  point  of  all  is  the  appearance  of  Argus  upon 
the  stage  of  the  world.  From  astronomical  data 
calculated  first  by  Bailly  and  Colebrooke,  after- 
wards adopted  by  Lahsen  and  Wilson,  and  finally 
put  beyond  all  doubt  by  Laplace,  this  event,  which 
has  furnished  roots  to  the  genealogical  tree  of  an- 
cient Egypt,  may  go  back  thirty  centuries  before 
our  era,  but  no  farther. 

This  opinion,  we  know,  will  be  taxed  as  heretical 
and  even  blasphemous  by  those  who  approach  the 


EGYPT  3300  YEAKS   AGO.  25 

realm  of  history  not  in  order  to  extract  therefrom 
fruitful  lessons  and  hopes  for  the  future,  but  that 
they  may,  in  the  presence  of  dusty  remains  and  ex- 
travagant legends,  give  themselves  up  to  the  ec- 
static admiration  of  an  old  idolatry  as  aimless  as  it 
was  artificial  and  out  of  date.  To  have  Memphis 
built  by  Menes,  5800  years  before  our  era,  upon 
the  filled- up  bed  of  the  Nile  diverted  from  its 
course ;  to  believe  piously  in  the  books  of  anatomy 
written  by  Athoth,  the  son  and  successor  of  the 
first-named  dynastic  founder;  to  unreservedly  ad- 
mit the  authenticity  of  the  ancestral  images  carried 
before  the  kings  at  religious  ceremonies,*  and  the 
filiation  of  the  three  hundred  and  forty-five  Pi-Ro- 
mish mentioned  by  Herodotus ;  to  rear  the  Pyra- 
mids of  Gizeh  in  the  time  of  the  brothers  Supphi 

*  At  Rome,  also,  in  many  public  and  private  ceremonies, 
there  were  exhibited  along  with  the  images  of  ancestors 
those  of  the  gods  to  which  the  Roman  patricians  pretended 
to  trace  their  origin.  Bat  have  modern  historians  ever 
come  to  the  conclusion,  from  the  presence  of  the  images  of 
Mars  and  Venus  at  the  funeral  rites  of  Julius  or  Martius, 
that  those  fetiches  of  the  primitive  clans  of  Latium  ever  had 
a  real  personal  existence  ?  Assuredly  not.  Yet  this  is  what 
Egyptian  investigators  do  in  our  day,  in  regard  to  Menea 
and  many  mythical  personages  of  ancient  Egypt. 

f  This  word  is  equivalent  to  "the  man  superior  to  all 
others ;"  "a  brave  and  virtuous  person  ;"  "an  excellent 
man."  Herodotus.  Euterpe,  ch.  143. 


26  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

or  Clmffu,  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  forty  or  fifty  cen- 
turies before  Christ ;  and  to  put  back  the  origin  of 
the  grand  hydraulic  and  architectural  monuments 
of  Fayoum  fifteen  hundred  years  anterior  to  Thoth- 
mes  III,  to  Seti  I,  to  Ilameses  Mei-Amoun ;  to 
cause  the  conquest  of  Asia,  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred years  before  the  Saviour,  by  an  Osymandyas 
and  a  Sesortasen,  personages  of  whom  the  heroes  of 
the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  dynasties  would  be 
merely  feeble  imitators, — all  this  was,  for  a  long 
time  in  France,  and  is  still  in  Germany,  a  source  of 
pleasure  even  to  grave  adepts  in  science,  that  it 
would  be  perilous  to  disturb  by  calm  discussion. 
Therefore,  we  shall  not  attempt  the  task,  confident 
as  we  are,  that,  ere  long,  there  will  become  of  those 
mythical  legends,  what  recently  became  of  the  series 
of  centuries  that  our  fathers  so  generously  accorded 
to  the  temples  of  Esneh  and  Denderah — centuries 
which  we  had  to  reduce  from  sixty-four  and  from 
thirty-eight  to  seventeen  or  eighteen  at  the  utmost.* 

*  We  know  that  this  pretended  antiquity  was  the  basis 
given  by  Dupuy  to  his  system  in  his  "  Origin  of  Religious 
Worship."  See  Appendix  IL 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  29 

vin. 

NEVERTHELESS,  we  cannot  close  this  dissertation, 
which  has  been  too  far  prolonged,  already,  for  the 
plan  of  our  book,  without  reminding  those  who  "  do 
not  see  what  delight  there  is  in  shutting  themselves 
up  for  four  thousand  years  with  nations  in  their  in- 
fancy and  tyrants  in  decay  "*  the  avowal  wrung  by 
Herodotus  from  the  very  priesthood  of  Memphis  : 
"  That  in  the  time  of  Menes,  the  first  mortal  King 
of  Egypt,  the  entire  country  below  the  Thebaic  nome 
was  nothing  but  a  marsh"  But,  in  regard  to  the 
philological  identity  of  the  name  Menes  with  that 
of  Manu,  given  in  the  Sanscrit  tongue,  to  the  spir- 
its proceeding  out  of  Brahma  and  especially  entrust- 
ed by  him  with  the  charge  of  giving  laws  to  the 
Earth,  this  avowal  leaves  nothing  to  the  name  in 
question  and  to  the  legends  therewith  connected 
but  the  consistency  of  a  myth  symbolizing  the  ener- 
getic force  of  nature  in  the  earliest  times,  the  same 
being  subsequently  imported  from  the  banks  of  the 
Indus  to  those  of  the  Nile,  at  an  unknown  period 
by  a  method  of  transmission  identical  with  that 
which  has  borne  the  name  of  Jemshid  (Yima 

*  Chateaubriand.  Introduction  to  hia  Journey  to  Ame- 
rica. 


30  EGYPT   3300   YEARS    AGO. 

Tehaeto),  step  by  step,  from  the  valleys  of  the  Jax- 
artes  and  the  Tarim,  to  the  high  plains  of  Media  and 
Persia.  In  tine,  we  must  ascertain  for  our  readers 
the  result  of  the  researches  that  modern  geology 
has  been  making  with  regard  to  the  beds  of  clay 
successively  deposited  by  the  periodical  inundations 
of  the  Egyptian  river,  and  according  to  which  we 
must  not  date  farther  back  than  some  thirty  centu- 
ries before  Christ  the  appearance  of  the  first  human 
monuments  on  the  primitive  soil  of  Thebes.* 

When  a  trench  is  dug  or  any  excavation  made  in 
the  valley  of  the  Nile,  there  is,  invariably,  found  a 
layer  of  vegetable  earth  from  20  to  24  feet  in  depth, 
the  result  of  the  river's  annual  deposit.  This  layer 
rests  directly  upon  a  bed  of  sea  sand.  Very  minute 
calculations  led  the  engineers  of  the  great  French 
expedition  to  Egypt  to  estimate  at  126  millimetres, 
or  about  .4134:  of  a  foot,  per  century,  the  elevation 
of  this  alluvial  soil.  At  a  later  date,  Mr.  Lebas,  the 
engineer  upon  whom  devolved  the  task  of  convey- 
ing the  obelisk  of  Luxor  to  Paris,  and  the  English 
savant  Wilkinson,  came  to  conclusions  almost  iden- 
tical, on  the  same  subject,  by  methods  of  research 
different  in  character  but  equally  exact  in  detail. 
Eight  metres,  26  j  feet, the  greatest  thickness, divided 

*  Description  of  Egypt.     Girard's  Nemoire  on  Drainage. 


EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO.  31 

by  126  millimetres,  or  .4134  of  a  foot,  gives  us  no 
more  than  6350  years  of  days  equal  in  length  to  those 
of  our  time.  Egyptian  history,  as  Manetho  and 
the  epigraphists  understand  it,  is  not  restrained 
within  these  narrow  limits.  What,  then,  are  we  to 
do,  unless  we  bring  down  to  a  date  much  later  than 
Menes  and  the  kings  who  built  the  Pyramids,  the 
period  when  the  Egyptians  neither  employed  nor 
knew  any  years  of  longer  term  than  four  months. 
"  The  proof  of  this,"  admits  one  of  the  most  ardent 
champions  of  the  high  antiquity  of  Egypt,  "  is  that, 
later,  when  the  year  consisted  of  twelve  months, 
three  seasons  were  designated,  each  comprising 
four  months,  which  were  indicated  hieroglyphically 
by  the  word  ter,  and  by  a  sign  tliat  may  mean  a  sea- 
son or  a  year,  indifferently."* 

The  lower  course  of  the  old  Egyptian  Nile  is, 
therefore,  geologically  speaking,  one  of  the  most 
recently  formed  of  the  ancient  continent,  and,  if 
geology  be  not  a  vain  word,  three  thousand,  aye, 
four  thousand  years  anterior  to  Rameses, — five 
thousand  years  at  most,  if  the  heaping  up  of  the 
lower  deposits  are  to  be,  likewise,  taken  into  ac- 
count,— the  soil  of  Egypt  was  still  oscillating  between 
the  billows  of  the  sea,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun.  t 

*  Dr.  H.  de  Brugsch.  History  of  Egypt  from  the  earliest 
period  of  its  existence  (Leipzig,  1859,  p.  26.) 
t  See  Appendix  III. 


32  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

Hence,  the  city  of  This  or  Thinis,  from  which 
the  chief  of  the  first  Egyptian  dynasty  was  said 
to  have  come,  was  not  founded  until  long  after- 
ward. 


IX. 

NINE  or  ten  centuries  later,  that  is  to  say  after  a 
longer  lapse  of  time  than  was  allotted  to  any  nation 
of  classic  antiquity  for  its  birth,  development  and 
death,  the  population  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile  is 
dimly  seen  attempting  a  form  of  civilization  of 
which  historians  make  known  to  us  only  the  de- 
cline. 

Subdivided  into  several  groups  whereof  Beheni  in 
Nubia,  Thebes,  Heracleopolis,  and  Memphis,  some- 
times independent,  sometimes  tributary  cities,  but 
always  rivals  of  each  other,  were  the  chief  centres, 
the  different  populations  referred  to  had  for  a  com- 
mon bond : 

I.  Their  social  organization,  founded  on  the  sys- 
tem of  castes,  the  result  of  successive  immigrations 
and  conquests. 

II.  Their  religous  creed,  arising  like  their  castes 
from  the  superposition  of  different  races  upon  the 


EGYPT   3300   YEABS  AGO.  33 

same  soil;  a  synthetic  derivation  from  the  mon- 
strous superstitions  of  the  Cushites,  of  Semitic 
Sabaism  and  Aryan  naturalism,  it  presented,  in  the 
individual  manifestations  of  divine  power,  traces  of 
its  triple  origin ;  but,  multiplying  those  manifesta- 
tions according  to  the  place  and  the  interest  of  the 
moment,  and  upon  each  rung  of  the  ladder  that  con- 
nects the  phenomena  of  Earth  with  the  invisible 
world,  it  could  but  terminate  for  the  multitude  in 
the  grossest  fetichism,  and,  for  thinking  men, 
athwart  the  mystery  of  the  initiations,  in  those 
mystical  metaphysics  of  which  the  Alexandrian 
school  has  transmitted  only  vague  echoes  to  us. 

III.  Their  language,  issuing  from  the  same  com- 
mingled sources,  and  retaining  traces  of  its  origin, 
yet  differing  importantly  from  nome  to  nome,  from 
metroplis  to  metropolis,  and  particularly,  from  the 
Thebais  to  the  Delta,  but  for  which,  however,  the 
priests  had,  in  the  long  run,  discovered  in  the  num- 
berless array  of  their  fetiches,  animate  or  inanimate, 
tangible  symbols,  a  graphic  representation   and  a 
consecrated  alphabet  whereof  every  temple  had  the 
key. 

IV.  A  method  of  burial  singular,  but  imperative- 
ly required  by  a  long  and  cruel  experience  of  the 
periodical  inundations  of  the  river,  and  of  the  poi- 
sonous effluvia  arising  from  the  contact  of   the  wa- 


34  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

ters  with  the  organic  remains  hidden  beneath  the 
soil. 

V.  Their  sedentary  life ;  industrial  and  agricul- 
tural habits,  derived,  perforce,  like  social  manners 
and  customs,  from  the  imperious  exigencies  of  their 
dwelling  place  and  the  odd  shape  of  its  narrow  and 
elongated  territorial  surface  ;  at  the  same  time,  too, 
from  their  jealous  attachment  to  the  soil,  their 
hatred  and  contempt  for  the  stranger,  and  especially, 
for  the  wandering  tribes  of  the  frontiers,  an  impure 
race  whose  insolent  rapacity  and  greedy  herds  de- 
nied the  earth  and  impaired  its  fertility. 

What  was  there  wanting  to  tribes  who  inhab- 
ited the  banks  of  the  Nile,  at  this  period  of  their 
existence,  to  form  a  nation  ? — One  of  those  catastro- 
phes which  bring  communities  closer  together  and 
combine  them,  as  they  do  individuals — a  partner- 
ship of  perils,  struggles,  sufferings,  reverses  and  tri- 
umphs gone  through,  side  by  side. 

Providence  brought  this  about. 


In  due    time,   came    rushing    headlong    across 
Western  Asia,  the  first  migration  of  nations  where- 


EGYPT  3300  YEABS  AGO.  35 

of  history  has  retained  the  remembrance.  Swollen 
by  all  the  nomadic  tribes  that  it  had  gathered  to 
it  on  the  way,  it  feU  suddenly  upon  the  valley  of 
the  Nile. 

Whence  came  this  human  avalanche  ?  Josephus 
seems  to  indicate  Chaldea;  Yolney  speaks  of 
Yemen.  Judging  by  the  force  of  its  impetus  and 
the  length  of  time  it  took  for  the  disappearance  of 
its  straggling  remnants,  by  the  name  accursed  that 
it  left  in  the  memory  of  Egypt,  and  above  all,  by 
the  avenging  hate  that,  in  later  times,  repeatedly 
impelled  the  Egyptian  armies  beyond  the  river 
Tigris  and  the  Armenian  Taurus,  we  think  that  it 
is  in  Central  Asia,  the  ever-seething  cauldron  and 
workshop  whence  the  commissioned  races  and  the 
scourges  of  Divine  wrath  emanate,  that  we  must 
look  for  the  starting  point  of  the  Hycsos. 

Written  history  contains  but  a  few  words  to  sus- 
tain our  opinion,  yet  they  are  formal  and  charac- 
teristic. "  Before  there  were  any  Medes  and  As- 
syrians," says  Justinus,  in  Book  II.,  chapter  iii.,  the 
Scythians,  i.  e.,  a  wandering  race  coming  from  the 
north,  invaded  Asia  and  held  it  in  subjection  for 
fifteen  hundred  years." 

The  prophets  of  Thebes  and  of  Memphis  might 
have  exclaimed,  as  those  of  Judea  had  occasion  to 


36  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

do  in  later  years,  in  the  presence  of  an  irruption  oi 
similar  hordes. 

"Behold  a  people  cometh  from  the  north;  a 
mighty  nation  hath  arisen  from  the  loins  of  the 
Earth !  They  carry  the  bow  and  the  buckler  :  they 
break  and  destroy  without  pity !  — The  noise  of 
their  coming  is  like  the  roaring  of  the  sea. 

"  They  come  up  as  a  cloud ;  their  chariots  fly  as 
the  whirlwind.  Woe  unto  us  ! 

"  I  looked  upon  the  Earthand  it  was  a  desert ;  I 
beheld  the  mountains,  and  lo  they  trembled,  and  all 
the  hills,  and  they  dashed  together.  I  beheld  and 
lo!  there  was  no  man,  and  all  the  birds  of  the 
heavens  were  fled ;  *  *  *  all  the  cities  were  broken 
down.  *  *  *  The  whole  land  shall  oe  desolate.*  *  * 

"It  is  a  mighty  nation,  an  ancient  nation,  a  na- 
tion whose  language  thou  knowest  not,  neither  uii- 
derstandest  what  they  say.  *  *  *  Their  quiver  is  an 
open  sepulchre.  *  *  *  And  they  shall  eat  up  thine 
harvest  and  thy  bread  which  thy  sons  and  thy 
daughters  should  eat." 

*  Jeremiah,  ch.  iv.  v.  and  viii. 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO.  37 

XL 

HEKE,  the  avowal  of  Manetho  should  be  received 
with  credence  ;  since  sapping  the  foundation  of  his 
system  of  national  antiquity,  better  than  any  other 
argument,  it  must  have  sorely  wounded  his  pride. 

"  In  the  ancient  times,"  he  says,  "  during  the 
reign  of  one  of  our  kings  named  Timaos,  the  anger 
of  God  was  aroused  against  us,  I  know  not  why ; 
and  there  came  from  the  direction  of  the  east  a 
multitude  of  men  of  ignoble  race  who,  precipitating 
themselves  by  surprise  upon  our  country,  possessed 
themselves  of  it  without  a  struggle  and  with  the  great- 
est ease.  They  slew  part  of  the  chiefs  and  cast  the 
rest  into  chains.  They  burnt  our  cities  and  threw 
down  the  temples  of  the  gods.  Their  barbarity 
toward  the  Egyptians  were  such  that  all  who  had 
not  perished  by  the  sword  were  reduced  with  their 
women  and  children  to  the  hardest  servitude. 

"They  then  took  one  from  among  themselves 
named  Salatis,  for  a  king,  and  he  made  his  seat  at 
Memphis  and  subjected  all  the  provinces,  superior 
and  inferior  alike,  to  tribute,  by  occupying  them 
with  military  garrisons. 

"  The  latter  he  established  principally  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  east,  with  a  view  to  closing  the  gates 
of  his  conquest  against  the  future  masters  of  Asia. 


38  EGYPT    3300  YEAKS  AGO. 

Having  discovered  in  the  Saitic  nome  or  district  to 
the  eastward  of  the  Bubastic  branch  of  the  Nile,  a 
convenient  spot  called  Avaris  (Wara),  he  fortified 
it,  and  placed  within  its  confines  and  in  its  neigh- 
borhood, two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  warriors. 

Every  year,  at  harvest  time,  he  quited  Memphis 
to  come  to  that  place,  to  superintend  the  harvests, 
to  pay  the  salaries  and  wages,  to  exercise  the  mul- 
titude in  warlike  evolutions,  and  thus  inspire  the 
vanquished  and  foreigners  with  a  salutary  fear. 
Dying  after  a  reign  of  nineteen  years,  he  had  for  a 
successor  Beon,  who  was  replaced  by  Apachnas,  to 
whom  succeeded  Apophis,  then  Janas,  then  Assis, 
in  all,  six  kings  in  259  years  and  three  months." 
During  this  whole  space  of  time,  they  never  ceased 
to  wage  a  war  of  extermination  on  the  Egyptian 
race,  and  they  were  called  the  Hycsos  or  Shepherd 
Kings,  for  hoc  in  the  sacred  tongue  means  king, 
and  sos  in  the  vulgar  idiom  a  shepherd.  * 

A  curious  document  which  has  come  down  to  us 
from  those  remote  times  yields  the  support  of  irre- 
futable testimony  to  Manetho's  recital.  There  may 
be  read  on  a  hieratic  papyrus  in  the  British  Museum 
the  following  inscription : 

"  It  happened  that  the  land  of  Egypt  fell  into  the 

*  Extract  of  Manetho  in  Flavins  Josephus,  contra  Appionem. 


EGYPT    3300   YEARS   AGO.  41 

hands  of  strangers  (Aad-tus)  and  then  there  were 
no  native  Pharaohs  left  in  the  whole  country.  At 
that  time  their  descendant,  Ra-Sekenen,  was  nothing 
but  a  hac,  or  chief,  of  Upper  Egypt.  The  Aad-tus 
held  the  strong  city  of  the  sun  *  and  their  king,  his 
majesty  Apapias,  resided  at  Ha-~War.f  The  whole 
country  was  tributary  to  him,  and  brought  him  all 
its  good  productions  after  the  example  of  the  lower 
country  (Lower  Egypt). 

"And  his  majesty  Ra- Apapias  chose  the  god 
Sutech  as  his  Lord,  and  would  not  be  the  worship- 
per of  any  other  god  in  the  entire  region,  and  he 
built  a  temple  to  him  in  good  imperishable  stone :":£ 

In  the  presence  of  text  so  specific  and  formal  as 
this,  what  becomes  of  the  forty  preceding  centuries 
of  administrative  and  territorial  unity  ?  What  re- 
mains of  all  that  systematic  scaffolding  ? — unless  it 
be  the  undeniable  proof  that  the  Egypt  of  those 
days  succumbed  so  easily,  only  through  the  ab- 
sence of  unitary  institutions  and  traditions, — the 
inanity  of  her  past  existence  as  a  nation. 

*  This  designation  may  be  applied  to  Thebes,  as  well  as 
to  Heliopolis. 

t  Tliis  word,  which  is  entirely  Aryan  in  origin,  would  suffice 
to  indicate  the  primitive  country  of  the  Hycsos.  War,  in 
the  Zend  language,  means  the  original  enclosure  built  by 
Jemshid. —  Wara  or  War,  in  Pelhvi,  or  old  Persian,  mean- 
ing borough,  fortified  enclosure. 

I  See  Appendix  IV. 


42  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

Surprised  amid  the  pre-occupations  inherent 
to  the  long  infancy  in  which  her  servile  educa- 
tion kept  her  under  the  yoke  of  religious  and 
royal  formalism ;  parcelled  out  by  the  rival  preten- 
sions of  her  various  tribes,  her  cities  and  her  two 
controlling  castes ;  more  accustomed  to  luxurious 
pageants,  to  religious  chantings  and  processions 
sweeping  past  from  temple  to  temple  along  her 
sacred  river,  than  inured  to  warlike  exercises  and  the 
din  of  battle;  better  skilled  in  handling  the  hoe 
that  fertilizes  the  soil  and  the  chisel  that  carves 
decorations  in  granite  for  the  hours  of  peace,  than 
in  brandishing  the  bow  and  shield  which  would 
have  saved  her  in  the  hour  of  peril,  Egypt  fell  com- 
pletely prone  before  the  Hycsos  and  disappeared 
for  a  time  beneath  the  billows  of  invasion. 

The  latter,  sweeping  all  before  it  with  barbarian 
fury,  frenzied  as  it  was  by  the  fanaticism  of  an 
image-breaking  creed,  halted  only  at  the  limits 
which  nature  herself  had  set  to  its  easy  conquest. 
Those  limits  were  the  rocky  mountain  ranges 
that  a  little  below  the  Tropic,  and  parallel  to  it,  ex- 
tended from  the  Libyan  desert  to  the  shores  of  the 
Red  Sea. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 


XII. 

A  DEEP  ravine  with  steep  declivities ;  a  river  in  it 
studded  with  a  labyrinth  of  small  islands  and  sharp 
projections  of  dark  granite  constantly  embrowned 
by  the  dash  and  the  foam  of  the  waves,  marks  the 
passage  of  this  mountain  chain  across  the  Nile,  and 
constitutes  the  phenomenon  of  the  cataracts  of 
Syene,  so  strangely  exaggerated  by  classic  antiquity, 
A  little  higher  up  than  these  rapids  rises  the  Island 
of  Philse  where  Egyptian  mythology  placed  the 
tomb  of  Asiri,  and  where,  in  fact,  seemed  to  termi- 
nate, with  Egypt  itself,  the  furrow  of  fertility  which 
the  river  opens  from  that  point  to  the  sea. 

Upon  both  banks  of  the  Nile,  enormous  masses 
of  brown  freestone  and  granite,  of  sombre  and  cal- 
cined hue,  confused  and  upturned  at  their  base, 
rise,  like  the  chosen  scene  where  Nephtis  and  Ty- 
phon,  the  gods  of  the  desert  and  of  chaos,  had  tri- 
umphed, and  shutting  in  the  horizon  of  the  myste- 
rious isle  on  all  sides,  contrast,  in  the  most  startling 
manner,  with  the  white  pylons  and  the  regular  col- 
onnades that  cover  its  surface. 

From  this  point  to  the  Island  of  Say  in  Middle 
Nubia,  this  heap  of  rocks  stamped  with  the  seal  of 
desolation,  ascends  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  and  en- 
closes it  with  its  abrupt  acclivities,  in  such  manner  as 


46  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

to  leave  it  only  the  aspect  of  a  mountain  torrent 
which  at  certain  points  is  but  a  stone's  throw 
across.  A  steep  path  painfully  winds  along  its 
rugged  slopes,  and  below,  at  their  foot,  are  seen 
some  narrow  furrows  of  barley  and  dourah,  with  oc- 
casional clumps  of  date  trees  indicating  a  thin  strip 
of  cultivable  land,  which,  a  hundred  times  intercept- 
ed by  jutting  ridges  of  rock  rarely  attains  more 
than  355  feet  in  breadth,  and  supports  hardly  one 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  upon  a  surface  of 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  in  longi- 
tudinal extent. 


XIII. 

YET,  this  poor  country,  this  region  of  stones,  as  the 
Arabs  call  it,  in  their  energetic  idiom, — the  Batn  or 
Dar-el-kazhar, — was  the  salvation  of  rich  and  fertile 
Egypt,  in  the  days  of  Ilycsos  rule.  It  gave  refuge 
behind  its  granite  frontier  to  all  the  vanquished 
who  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  escape  the 
sword  or  the  yoke  of  the  invaders.  It  offered  them, 
in  the  jagged  recesses  of  its  rocks,  temples  for  their 
gods,  palaces  for  their  princes,  and  rallying  places 
for  their  warriors.  AH  drank  in  from  its  rudo  hos- 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  47 

pitality  the  energy  that  they  lacked,  and  little  by  lit- 
tle, it  changed  to  thoughts  of  vengeance  and  the  hope 
of  return,  the  regrets  they  had  bestowed  on  their 
lost  country.  The  very  insufficiency  of  the  Nubian 
soil  to  support  their  number,  augmented  as  it  was 
each  day  by  fresh  fugitives,  strengthened  their  reso- 
lution. In  order  to  subsist,  they  were  forced  to 
venture  upon  marauding  expeditions  into  the  coun- 
try that  they  had  not  been  able  to  defend.  They 
had  to  creep  stealthily  toward  it,  through  the  wil- 
derness, and,  exposed  to  constant  peril,  to  snatch 
away  by  dint  of  arms,  a  portion  of  the  fruits  and 
harvests  that  it  lavished  on  the  stranger.  This 
Bedouin  existence  perforce  accustomed  the  military 
caste  to  danger,  and  they  were  recruited  by  all  who 
had  a  heart  or  an  arm  at  the  service  of  their  desti- 
tution or  their  resentment.  Partial  successes  de- 
veloped courage  and  confidence  ;  allies  came  to  the 
Egyptians,  undoubtedly,  from  the  depths  of  Ethio- 
pia, and,  very  probably,  from  the  coasts  of  India  ; 
their  expeditions,  as  they  multiplied,  became  more 
regular  in  form  and  assumed  a  more  general  char- 
acter; their  warfare,  from  being  clandestine  and 
fitful  became  open  and  continual,  until,  finally, 
it  took  permanent  foothold  in  all  the  passes  that 
descend  from  the  south  into  Egypt,  recovering 
ground,  step  by  step,  from  the  Hycsos.  Holy 


48  EGYPT   3300  YEARS  AGO. 

work !  in  which  many  generations  were  consumed 
and  which  was  transmitted  from  father  to  son,  for 
more  than  two  hundred  years. 

The  chieftains  who,  by  reason  of  their  descent 
from  the  ancient  kings,  or  through  services  ren- 
dered to  the  common  cause,  were  summoned  to  di- 
rect this  great  struggle,  shared  all  its  vicissitudes. 
At  first  mere  chiefs  of  bands  roving  among  the 
rocks  and  over  the  deserts,  then  sovereigns  of 
Nubia  and  the  Thebais,  victory  and  national  con- 
sent made  them,  successively,  masters  of  the 
Heptanomis  and  of  the  lower  course  of  the  great 
river.  There  are  many  names,  now  the  subject  of 
dispute  between  authorities  skilled  in  Egyptian 
lore  who  refer  them  back  to  still  earlier  times,  which 
we  think  belong  to  the  period  and  range  that  we 
are  just  describing.  At  length,  when  Ahmes,  the 
founder  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  uniting  all  the 
native  forces  of  the  Nile  valley,  entered  Memphis 
in  triumph,  drove  all  the  strangers  beyond  the  river 
to  their  entrenched  camp  at  Wara,  and  afterwards 
expelled  them  even  from  that ;  and  when  Amenoph, 
his  son,  completed  their  explusion  from  the  terri- 
tory of  Kemi  by  fresh  victories  on  the  roads  lead- 
ing to  Asia,  these  princes  may  have  thought  of  re- 
constructing only  the  past,  but,  in  reality,  they  set 
up  a  totally  unknown  order  of  things  and  ideas. 


EGYPT  3300  TEAKS  AGO.  49 

Upon  the  ruins  of  the  old  principalities  of  Thebes, 
Memphis  and  Fayoum,  trampled  out  by  the  feet  of 
the  Hycsos,  worn  away  and  jumbled  together  by 
two  centuries  and  a  half  of  battles,  they  laid  what 
was  the  real  foundation  of  Egyptian  nationality, 
the  true  groundwork  of  a  new  empire  whose  strong 
and  stable  unity  was  long  to  remain  without  a 
counterpart  in  the  future,  as  it  was  without  one  in 
the  past. 


XIV. 

SUCH  were,  for  Egypt,  the  final  consequences  of 
her  first  struggle  with  the  men  of  the  north.  His- 
tory, which  faithfully  credits  nations  with  the  tears 
and  the  blood  that  similar  crises  cost  them,  and 
which  does  not  always  have  the  opportunity,  as  it 
has  in  this  instance,  to  correctly  estimate  their 
prolific  results,  must  record  these  with  eagerness. 

It  is  to  this  period  of  general  revival,  that  we 
must  also  refer  a  fact,  the  date  of  which  the  an- 
cients, failing  to  discover  its  origin  in  the  historical 
ages  of  Egypt,  have  pushed  back  into  the  night  of 
time,  so  as  to  do  honor  to  Menes,  a  veritable 
sphinx  to  whom  they  committed  the  keeping  of  all 


50  EGYPT  3300   YEARS   AGO. 

the  problems  that  they  deemed  impenetrable.  We 
allude  to  the  reform  which  substituted  the  warrior 
for  the  priestly  caste,  at  the  head  of  the  hierarchy, 
and  which  withdrew  the  kings  from  the  shadow  of 
the  temples  and  the  tutelage  of  the  clerical  order, 
to  centralize  all  power  in  them,  and  to  make  them, 
for  a  long  series  of  generations,  the  representatives 
of  all  the  energies  of  society. 

In  the  system  of  the  old  legendary  writers  this 
reform  can  be  explained  only  by  some  violent  revul- 
sion, or  by  a  usurpation  of  rights  revolting  against 
rights  acquired.  In  our  opinion,  it  proceeded  from 
the  grand  onward  sweep  of  human  affairs ;  it  was 
ordained  by  the  inflexible  logic  of  events.  The  lat- 
ter, in  creating  new  duties,  naturally  displaced  the 
rights  of  various  classes,  and,  naturally  also,  be- 
stowed the  greatest  share  of  privilege  upon  those 
who  undertook  the  greatest  share  of  responsibility. 
Such  were  the  men  who,  in  the  presence  of  the  vic- 
torious stranger,  covered  with  their  bosoms  and 
their  swords  the  last  asylums  of  their  families  and 
their  gods,  and  repurchased  a  country  for  them  at 
the  price  of  their  blood.  Such  men  were  preferred 
to  those  who,  seeking  refuge  in  the  depths  of  their 
sanctuaries,  had  offered  nothing  to  the  common 
cause  but  sterile  appeals  and  vain  speculations  on 
the  enigma  of  the  world. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS   AGO.  51 


XV. 

THE  vital  sap  so  superabundant  in  all  nations  in 
a  state  of  social  renovation,  was  with  the  Egyptians 
when  they  had  become,  in  their  turn,  the  conquer- 
ors of  the  Hycsos,  in  proportion  to  the  time  and  the 
sacrifices  that  victory  had  cost  them. 

It  developed,  afterward,  for  centuries,  from  gener- 
ation to  generation,  revealing  itself,  on  all  sides  in 
striking  displays; — at  home  by  gigantic  achieve- 
ments of  art  or  of  public  utility  ;  outside,  by  inces- 
sant effort  to  expand  in  the  most  opposite  directions 
the  boundaries  of  the  Empire,  until  the  latter,  at 
length,  overflowed  upon  the  world  in  civilizing  col- 
onies and  in  warlike  expeditions  which  by  ideas  or 
by  the  sword,  by  trade  or  conquest,  fertilized  the 
soil  where  other  races  were  to  spring  up  and  grow 
great  in  their  turn. 

If  we  are  to  believe  the  testimony  deduced  from 
the  monuments,  most  of  the  sovereigns  who,  at 
that  time,  reigned  in  Egypt,  had  to  contend  not 
only  against  the  barbarians  of  the  north  and  of  the 
south ;  to  repel  fresh  attacks  of  the  Hycsos,  who 
could  not  make  up  their  minds  to  abandon  forever 
the  grand  prize  that  their  fathers  had  won, — and  to 
hurl  them  back  into  the  heart  of  Asia ;  but  they 


52  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

had,  also,  to  restore  the  majesty  of  the  altar  and 
the  throne  by  re-erecting  the  temples  and  palaces 
destroyed  by  time  and  invasion,  and  to  re-open  by 
agriculture  and  by  canals  that  should  distribute 
the  fertilizing  properties  of  the  Nile,  sources  of 
Egypt's  territorial  wealth. 

"  In  no  country,"  wrote  the  last  and  the  greatest 
of  Egypt's  conquerors,  on  this  subject, "  in  no  coun- 
try has  the  administration  so  much  influence  over 
public  prosperity.  If  the  administration  be  good,  the 
canals  are  well  dug,  well  kept,  the  rules  for  irriga- 
tion are  properly  executed,  the  flooding  is  more 
complete.  If  the  administration  be  bad,  corrupt  or 
weak,  the  principles  of  the  system  by  which  the 
country  is  watered  are  violated  by  seditions  fac- 
tions or  by  the  interests  of  particular  persons  or 
localities ;  the  canals  are  choked  with  mud :  the 
dykes  are  poorly  kept,  and  the  entire  nation  suffers. 
Other  governments  have  no  control  over  the  snow  or 
the  rain  that  falls  in  this  province  or  in  that,  but  in 
Egypt,  it  has  a  direct  influence  over  the  extent 
and  character  of  the  Nile  inundations,  which  take 
the  place  of  the  showers  and  drifts  that  fall  else- 
where." * 

Numerous    attestations    deduced     from    public 

*  Napoleon.     Memoirs  Dictated  at  St.  Helena :  Campaigii 
in  Egypt. 


EGYPT  3300  TEARS  AGO.  53 

monuments,  and  even  from  the  tombs  of  private 
persons,  agree  in  bearing  witness  that  the  sons  and 
grandsons  of  Ahmes  did  not  fall  short  of  their  mis- 
sion as  warriors  and  administrators. 

Among  them,  three  Amenophs  and  four  Thoth- 
mes  held  sway  in  Nubia  and  Syria.  Thothmes  III., 
the  most  celebrated  of  all,  extended  the  frontiers  of 
the  empire  as  far  as  the  borders  of  the  Tigris  to  the 
eastern  limits  of  Mesopotamia. 

It  is  to  this  period  of  success  and  development 
that  Egypt  owed  an  acquisition  more  valuable  for 
her,  and  more  durable,  too,  than  the  annexation  of 
territories  distant  from  her  natural  frontiers.  This 
was  the  possession  of  Hie,  Iwrse  and  its  healthful 
domestication  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile.*  Strange 
as  it  may  appear  in  view  of  the  extreme  antiquity 
ascribed  to  Egyptian  civilization,  it  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  the  noUest  conquest  that  man  ever  made  re- 
mained unknown  in  Egypt  until  the  seventeenth 
century  preceding  our  era ;  and  this  fact  alone 
suffices  to  annihilate  any  system  of  history  tending 
to  assign  to  Egypt  any  activity  beyond  the  borders 
of  the  valley  of  the  Nile  earlier  than  the  eighteenth 
dynasty. 

"The    lists    of    the    contributions    exacted    by 

*  Dr.  H.  Brugscli.     History  of  Egypt  p.  25. 


54  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

Thothmes  III.,"  says  the  Vicomte  de  Bouge,  in  his 
Memoir  on  the  Campaigns  of  Sesostris,  "  at  the 
close  of  fourteen  expeditions  directed  chiefly  against 
the  Assyrians  and  the  Phoenicians,  reveal  to  us 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  Asshur  and  Shiuar  bringing 
in  their  tribute  as  vassals  to  Egypt.  They  are  ac- 
companied by  other  nations  more  powerful  at  that 
tune  in  Asia  than  they,  but  whose  names  have 
shone  less  conspicuously  in  succeeding  ages.  Dur- 
ing time  of  peace,  the  Pharaohs  exercised  their  su- 
premacy regularly  in  those  countries.  Leaving  all 
authority  in  the  hands  of  the  national  chiefs,  they 
contented  themselves  with  levying  an  annual  tribute. 
They  had,  nevertheless,  seized  the  best  domains  of 
the  vanquished  princes,  and  had  appropriated  the 
revenues  either  to  the  use  of  different  temples,  or  to 
their  personal  treasury.  Fortresses  commanded 
the  chief  approaches  to  Asia;  governors  at  the 
head  of  strong  garrisons  watched  the  conquered 
provinces  ;  and  when  a  royal  reign  lasted  for  some 
length  of  time,  the  king  himself  was  seen  coming  to 
Asia,  either  peaceably  to  receive  tribute,  or  angrily 
to  chastise  rebels  by  one  of  those  terrible  forays 
which,  in  the  East,  seem  to  be  the  very  essence  of 
war. 

"  The  concluding  re'gns  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty 
wore  agitated  by  usurpations  and  religious  dissen- 


fiyoostyiic  nail  of  Earmk  'the  Central  $)«ve  restored 
according  to  ttic  Egyptian  Commission). 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS   AGO.  57 

sious.  Favored  by  these  disorders,  Asia  shook  off 
the  yoke  of  the  Pharaohs,  aiid  Seti  I.,  the  Sethos  of 
historians,  found  the  revolt  pushed  on  as  far  as  the 
gates  of  Lower  Egypt,  so  that  he  had  to  begin  over 
again  the  conquest  of  Syria.  The  victories  that 
signalized  the  first  years  of  his  reign  appear  to  have 
re-established  the  Egyptian  supremacy  over  the 
Asiatic  provinces,  for  some  length  of  time. 

The  grand  hypos  tylic  hall  of  Karnak,  and  the 
magnificent  tomb  discovered  by  Belzoni,  are  majes- 
tic monuments,  that  sufficently  attest  the  tranquillity 
of  the  country,  the  wealth  of  the  monarch,  and  the 
high  perfection  of  the  arts  under  the  reign  of  Se- 
thos. 

But  the  glory  of  these  names  and  of  these  deeds 
is  founded,  for  posterity,  upon  the  still  more  daz- 
zling splendor  of  the  second  period  of  that  grand 
Egyptian  cycle  which,  until  our  day,  was  entirely 
comprised  in  the  legend  of  Sesostris,  but  which 
is  henceforth  eclipsed  by  the  reign,  the  name, 
the  monuments  of  Kameses  the  Great. 


RAMESES    II., 

OR, 

MEI-AMOUN  THE   GREAT. 


RAMESES    II. 


Rameses  II. — Mei-Aruoun  the  Great,  otherwise  known  as  Sesos- 
tris. — The  Names  of  Rarneses  ;  his  Childhood  ;  his  Youth  ;  his 
Coronation.  —A  Consecration  Thirty-three  Centuries  Ago. — So- 
cial Rank  in  Egypt,  and  the  People,  at  that  Period  of  its  His- 
tory. 


THE  name  of  the  man  whose  place  we  are  seeking 
to  fix,  and  whose  active  part  in  history  we  would 
make  plain  to  our  readers  recalls  the  exaltation  of 
human  personal  position  to  the  highest  limits  of 
pride  and  power,  and  the  most  excessive  concentra- 
tion, in  one  individual,  of  all  the  vital  forces  of  a 
people  that  historical  annals  record.  Yet,  the 
name  and  the  individual  referred  to,  had  remained 
enveloped  in  doubt  and  uncertainty  until  our  day. 

In  vain  have  the  chisel  and  the  pencil  perpetuat- 
ed both  upon  the  finest  monuments  in  the  valley  of 
the  Nile.  In  vain  in  the  basreliefs  that  adorn 


62  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

the  sanctuaries  of  the  temples  and  the  halls  of  the 
palaces,  whereof  the  great  Barneses  was  the  found- 
er, has  the  hyperbole  of  flattery  been  pushed  so  far 
as  to  cause  the  likeness  of  the  supreme  Egyptian 
deity,  Ammon-Ba,  to  appear  among  those  of  the 
monarch.  Ammon  bestows  the  empire  of  the 
world,  both  sea  and  land,  upon  him,  "  his  well-be- 
loved child,  the  guardian  sun  of  justice,  Barneses 
II."  Along  with  the  image  .of  this  heathen  god,  is 
seen  that  of  Sethos,  the  god  of  war,  "  who  promises 
him  a  secure  and  upright  life  upon  the  throne  of 
the  sun,  forever."  With  these  are  also  found  the 
portraits  of  Maut  (primeval  and  prolific  Night),  and 
of  Isis  and  Anuke,  who  dandle  Ammon  on  their 
knees,  refresh  this  singular  bantling  with  their 
milk,  and  endow  him,  by  virtue  of  this  divine  nour- 
ishment, with  "  a  future  prolonged  for  endless 
periods  of  panegyrics."*  ....  Strange  con- 
fusion and  extinction  of  all  things  here  below ! 
through  causes  of  which  the  present  condition  of 
society  permits  us  to  get  only  a  glimpse,t  the  name 
and  personality  of  Barneses  Mei-Amoun  became 


*  Panegyrics  were  the  grand  state  occasions  when  the 
fame  of  the  princes  and  the  glory  of  the  gods  of  Egypt 
were  publicly  extolled  and  celebrated  with  processions, 
chan tings  and  festivities. 

t  See  Appendix  V. 


EGYPT  3300    YEARS  AGO.  63 

mixed  up,  gradually,  with  those  of  his  father  and  of 
two  of  his  descendants.  Greece,  that  grand  voice 
which  fills  the  trumpet  of  fame,  knew  nothing  of 
him  excepting  the  mythical  remembrances  that 
emerged  from  this  confusion,  and  which  Manetho, 
the  only  annalist  of  his  native  country,  could  not  or 
would  not  clear  away.  The  written  history  of  an- 
tiquity contains  but  one  exact  mention  of  him,  and 
this  it  owes  to  Tacitus  ;  and  it  has  required  all  the 
progress  of  modern  science  applied  to  the  researches 
of  the  past  to  enable  some  of  our  contemporaries  to 
exhume  the  real  name  of  the  Egyptian  hero,  and 
the  true  part  that  belongs  to  him  in  the  furrow 
which  the  old  land  has  worn  through  the  years  of 
antiquity.  This  they  accomplished  at  last,  when 
thirty  centuries  had  rolled  away,  by  disputing  with 
the  sands  of  the  desert,  the  monumental  legends  of 
Nubia  and  the  Thebais. 

Yet,  after  all,  it  matters  but  little  to  the  history 
of  humanity  whether  Barneses  II.  was  a  member 
of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  as  Champollion  thought, 
or  with  his  grandfather  Rameses  I.,  his  father  Seti 
I.,  and  Menephta  and  Seti  II.,  his  son  and  grand- 
son, made  up  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  as  some 
of  the  successors  of  the  above-named  writer  hold. — 
What  interests  us,  at  our  great  distance  in  time 
from  Barneses,  is  to  form  some  idea  of  the  political 


64  EGYPT  3300   YEARS   AGO. 

and  social  condition  of  the  world  when  he  was  sum- 
moned to  agitate  it  with  the  sceptre  and  the  sword : 
and  also  to  comprehend  the  elements  that  had  pre- 
pared the  state  of  things  of  which  he  was,  as  it 
were,  the  consequence,  and  also  those  the  germs  of 
which  he  left  behind  him.  We  have  already,  in  our 
former  book,  endeavored  to  set  forth  the  first ;  and 
in  the  following  pages  we  shall  strive  to  complete 
oui%  review  by  extending  it  to  the  second. 


n. 

SON  of  Seti  I.  and  of  the  Queen  Twea — the 
second  wife  of  that  prince — Barneses  Mei-Amoun 
must  have  been  born  during  the  quarter  of  a  cen^ 
tury  that  preceded  the  year  1400  before  our  Era. 
The  long  duration  attributed  to  his  reign,  and  the 
place  that  Moses  held  after  him  in  chronoogy,  do 
not  admit  of  the  date  of  this  event  falling  any  later. 
It  was,  says  Diodorus,  the  occasion  of  an  act  magni- 
ficent and  truly  royal.  The  recital  that  the  Greek 
historian  has  transmitted  to  us  on  this  subject  is 
tinged  with  the  marvellous,  as  his  readers  may  re- 
member, the  dream  in  which  a  god  announces  to  Pha- 
raoh that  the  empire  of  the  Earth  is  promised  to  tho 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  65 

child  just  born ;  the  means  conceived  by  the  happy 
father  to  prepare  his  son  for  this  high  destiny ;  all 
the  young  Egyptians  born  on  the  same  day  with 
the  little  prince,  gratuitously  furnished  with  nurses 
and  teachers,  subsequently  brought  together  around 
him  and  with  him  subjected  to  a  complete  educa- 
tion and  discipline,  made  common  to  them  all,  so 
that  he  might,  one  day,  find  in  the  companions  and 
the  studies  of  his  childhood,  instruments  devoted 
to  him  and  worthy  of  his  designs  as  a  man  and  his 
glory  as  a  King.  Then,  Arabia  and  Libya  con- 
quered; their  deserts  traversed  and  their  wild 
beasts  subdued,  formed,  so  to  speak,  the  climax  of 
this  masculine  education,  and,  as  it  were,  the  first 
essay  in  the  field  made  by  the  prince  and  his  young 
brethren  in  arms. 

If,  in  the  monuments  discovered,  nothing  has 
been  found  to  confirm  the  legendary  part  of  this 
narrative,  at  the  same  tune  nothing  has  been  found 
to  invalidate  it.  History  sees  no  objection  there  to 
her  admitting  that  Seti  was  the  fortunate  adversary 
of  the  Asiatic  nations,  and  that,  in  one  of  his  tri- 
umphs, he  was  enabled  to  display  the  images  and 
captives  taken  from  forty-eight  of  them  whom  he 
had  subdued,  the  prisoners  saluting  him  and  ap- 
plauding him  as  ike  son  of  the  Sun,  the  Lard  of  dia- 
dems, the  favorite  of  Phtah,  the  good  Deity,  sovereign 


66  EGYPT    3300   YEARS   AGO. 

of  two  worlds  and  eternal  as  the  Sun  itself!"  That  such 
a  man  as  this  should  have  dreamed  still  greater 
things  for  his  son,  and  that  he  should  have  surround- 
ed the  boy's  education  with  all  sorts  of  precau- 
tions and  all  the  incitements  that  could  favor  his 
designs,  when,  at  that  age  of  humanity,  he  had 
power  exalted  to  the  height  of  divine  control  at  his 
disposal,  is  not,  by  any  means,  incredible. 

Still  more :  the  monuments  show  us  Barneses  as- 
sociated with  the  crown  from  his  earliest  infancy, 
and  receiving  the  homage  of  the  Egyptians  while 
in  his  cradle.  "  You  were  yet  in  the  egg,"  his  sub- 
jects say  to  him,  "  and  you  had  the  honors  of  a 
prince.  WJiile  still  a  very  little  child,  wearing  plaited 

hair,  no  monument  was  made  without  you At 

the  age  of  ten,  you  commanded  armies"  This  is 
an  inscription  of  the  year  III.  In  fact,  there  are 
portraits  of  Barneses  in  a  child's  dress ;  the  double 
crown  is  on  his  head,  and  he  still  carries  his  finger 
at  his  mouth,  the  symbol  adopted  to  designate  in- 
fancy.* 

*  At  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre  in  Paris  may  be  seen  in 
case  C,  in  the  Historic  Hall,  on  the  first  floor,  two  baa 
reliefs  representing  Rameses  IL  In  one  of  them  the  prince 
is  already  a  youth  :  he  is  standing  near  a  lion,  with  a  bow  in 
his  hand  ;  but  he  still  wears  the  plait  of  hair,  the  distin- 
guishing emblem  that  was  laid  aside  on  attaining  manhood. 
In  the  other  fragment,  Barneses  IL,  still  a  mere  infant,  is 


EGYPT  3300  YEABS  AGO.  G7 


m. 

THE  monuments,  while  they  are  silent  with  regard 
to  the  termination  of  Seti's  reign,  and  his  death, 
have  transmitted  to  us  details  concerning  the  con- 
secration ceremonial  of  the  Pharaohs  of  his  dynasty, 
which  enable  us,  without  making  any  great  archaic 
efforts,  to  retrace  the  scene  of  his  son's  coronation. 
At  the  moment  when  the  existing  generation  is 
dying  out  around  us,  while  it  looks  on  with  coldness 
and  mockery  at  the  last  essays  of  monarchy  now 
dilapidated  by  time  and  deprived  of  credit  by  the 
progress  of  ideas,  it  may  not  prove  uninteresting, 
perhaps,  to  see  what  it  was  at  the  outset  in  the  ages 
of  monarchic  fervor  and  popularity.  Nothing,  it 
seems  to  us,  enables  one  to  appreciate  the  distance 
traversed  so  perfectly,  as  to  reascend  the  stream 
of  time,  in  fancy,  to  the  period  when  society  was  in 
its  youth,  and  the  masses  of  men,  well  or  ill  con- 
ducted during  their  passage  through  life,  rolled 
along  inert,  from  the  cradle  to  the  tomb,  in  blind 

nevertheless  King,  as  the  urceus,  viper  or  nazha,  which  sur- 
mounts his  crest,  and  the  titles  carved  around  him,  bear  wit- 
ness. He  wears  the  long  dangling  tress,  and  carries  his  fiii- 
ger  at  liis  mouth,  as  a  token  of  childhood. 


68  EGYPT  3300   YEAES  AGO. 

adoration  of  their  guides ;  when  human  thought, 
shut  up  in  the  depths  of  the  temples,  had  no  other 
perception  of  the  divine  ideal  than  in  objects 
of  surprise  and  terror — the  brutalities  of  mat- 
ter in  nature,  and  in  humanity,  the  tyranny  of 
Kings.  When,  after  the  72  days  of  mourning  pre- 
scribed by  the  funereal  regulations,  the  corpse  of  Seti 
had  been  deposited  in  the  magnificent  tomb  which 
he  had  prepared  for  himself  in  tJie  holy  mountain  of 
the  West*  beside  the  last  resting  places  of  the  other 
terrestrial  gods,  his  predecessors  ;  and  when,  by  vir- 
tue of  other  consecrated  rites,  the  moment  for  the 
establishment  of  his  son  Mei-Amoun  upon  the 
throne  had  been  decided  and  proclaimed,  Thebes, 
the  city  of  Ammon,  saw  flowing  in  to  her  all  the 

*  This  tomb  is  that  discovered  and  described  by  Belzoni. 
The  Museum  of  the  Louvre  has  a  superb  fragment  of  it,  in 
No.  7  of  the  bas  reliefs. 

Most  of  the  tombs  of  the  valley  of  Biban-el-Moluk  have 
remained  unfinished,  because,  upon  the  death  of  the  sov- 
ereigns who  caused  them  to  be  excavated,  the  work  ceased 
and  the  corpse  was  deposited  and  sealed  in  its  resting-place 
in  the  condition  in  which  the  sepulchre  happened  to  be  at 
that  moment. 

There  was  no  exception  to  this  rule  for  any  but  Seti, 
Barneses  Hikpun,  and  his  son  Barneses  IV.  The  tomb 
of  the  great  Mei-Amoun,  destroyed,  undoubtedly,  by -the 
Persians,  has  never  been  pointed  out. — See  Lenorumnd, 
Muste  des  Anliq.  egypt. ,  p.  20. 


EGYPT  3300   YEAES  AGO.  69 

functionaries  of  the  two  first  classes  who  by  right 
or  through  duty  had  a  marked  place  in  the  pane- 
gyrics, or  great  public  ceremonies. 

The  entrenched  camps  with  which,  in  emulation 
of  the  ancient  Hycsos  camp  of  Wara,  the  Pha- 
raohs of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  had  covered  their 
capital  on  both  banks  of  the  Nile,  received,  with- 
in their  spacious  enclosures,  the  deputations  of  the 
army  sent  from  all  the  cantonments  that  maintained 
on  the  uttermost  frontiers  the  integrity  of  the  em- 
pire or  the  submission  of  the  newly  subjugated 
tribes.  The  rich  dwellings  which  the  great  vassals 
had  to  keep  up  around  the  palace  of  their  sovereign 
became  peopled  with  (Eris,  intendants  of  the 
Egyptian  nomes,  or  governors  of  conquered  territo- 
ries. These  brought  with  them,  mingling  in  their 
showy  retinues,  and  laden  with  rich  tribute,  the 
chiefs  of  distant  countries  of  the  south  who  had 
been  reduced  to  subordinate  rank  or  positively 
conquered  and  made  vassals.  Many  of  the  latter 
also  were  from  the  western  region  of  the  oases,  or 
the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Asiatic  con- 
fines. In  a  word,  the  mysterious  dwellings 
of  the  great  Theban  triad ;  the  innermost  re- 
treats of  the  sacerdotal  colleges  were  thrown  open 
to  give  hospitality  to  the  eponymic  divinities  of  all 
the  local  religions  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  which, 


70  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

borne  in  pomp  along  the  river  by  their  prophets, 
their  pontiffs  and  their  choristers,  came  to  intercede 
respectfully  with  Ammon-Ra,  their  lord  and  fatJter, 
in  favor  of  the  mortal  who  was  to  become  Hue,  guard- 
ian Sun  of  justice  among  men. 


IV. 


ON  the  appointed  day,  so  soon  as  the  sun  rising 
above  the  horizon  of  the  Arabic  chain,  had  gilded 
the  opposite  summits  of  the  Libyan  mountains, 
sanctified  by  the  presence  of  the  royal  necropolis  or 
city  of  the  dead,  and  floods  of  sparkling  light  began 
to  ripple  along  the  masses  of  sandstone  and  mar- 
ble, red  porphyry  and  black  or  rose-colored  granite 
which,  reared  in  gigantic  temples ;  hewn  in  the  vast 
pylons ;  carved  in  obelisks  ;  sculptured  in  sphinxes 
and  colossi,  seemed,  at  Thebes  more  than  in  the 
rest  of  Egypt,  like  the  material  envelope  of  the 
empire's  mysterious  soul,  a  tremendous  clamor  of 
human  voices  and  instruments  of  music,  rising  from 
the  bosom  of  the  city,  saluted  the  appearance  of 
the  Pelasgic  god  and  gave  the  signal  for  the  com- 
mencement of  the  day's  ceremonies.  All  who  were 
to  take  part  in  the  latter  hastened  to  range  them- 


EGYPT   3300    YEAKS   AGO.  73 

selves  along  the  approaches  to  the  palace  where 
Mei-Amoun  had  passed,  in  seclusion,  the  period  of 
his  mourning.  Under  the  main  portico  stood  a 
magnificent  naos  *  upon  supports  of  eoony  carved 
in  symbolical  caryatides.  It  contained  a  throne  of 
ivory,  the  base  of  which  represented  in  gilded  relief 
the  sphinx,  the  emblem  of  wisdom  united  with 
strength,  and  the  lion,  the  symbol  of  courage. 
Of  this  throne  the  colored  statues  of  Tmei,  the  god- 
dess of  justice,  and  of  Hor-Moei,  the  sun-god 
of  truth,  with  outstretched  arms  and  expanded 
wings,  formed  the  background  and  sustained  the 
dais.  The  king,  his  forehead  encircled  with  a  sim- 
ple band  surmounted  with  a  golden  urceus  set  with 
jewels,  having  seated  himself  in  this  kind  of  case  or 
shrine,  twelve  Oeris  or  warrior  chieftains,  the  first 
in  the  empire  in  dignity  and  birth,  uplift'ed  him  on 
their  shoulders.  Other  great  personages  then  took 
hold,  each  one  of  some  particular  part  of  the  sup- 
ports and  steps  leading  to  the  throne,  and  all 
moved  off  together,  preceded  by  an  immense 
crowd,  to  the  temple  of  Ammon. 

The  march  was  opened  by  a  band  of  vocal  and 
instrumental  music  in  which  figured  the  rudimen- 
tary types  of  the  flutes,  trumpets  and  drums  still  in 

*  A  car  or  chair  of  state. 


74:  EGYPT  3300   TEAES    AGO. 

use.  The  members  of  the  king's  household  and 
the  functionaries  of  his  home  establishment  came 
next,  and  immediately  after  them,  the  royal  naos 
surrounded  by  attendants,  by  fanbearers  and  young 
children  of  the  sacerdotal  caste  carrying  the  sceptre, 
the  arms  and  the  other  insignia  of  the  monarch,  be- 
fore whom  the  first  of  the  princes  of  the  blood  and 
the  son  of  the  high  priest  burned  incense  in  golden 
censers. 

The  Queen  Nofre-Ari,  the  youthful  companion  of 
Mei-Ainoun  when  he  too  was  young,  robed  like 
him  in  rich  and  almost  transparent  tissues,  of  which 
India  even  then  possessed  the  secret,  and  like  him 
displaying  about  her  black  waving  masses  of  hair, 
and  in  the  many  ornaments  of  her  neck,  her  arms  and 
her  naked  feet  all  that  was  most  precious  among  the 
pearls  and  corals  of  the  Erythrean  seas  and  the  em- 
eralds of  the  Troglodytes,  accumulated  during  the 
lapse  of  centuries  in  the  treasury  of  the  Pharaohs, 
followed  her  spouse  in  an  elegant  palanquin,  the 
elastic  hammock  of  which,  constructed  of  fine  flax 
and  gold,  seemed  suspended  to  stalks  of  rose-colored 
and  blue  lotus.  Above  it,  a  broad  dais  woven  of 
the  rainbow-hued  spoils  of  the  most  brilliant  birds 
of  the  Tropics,  threw  forth  coruscating,  ever-chang- 
ing shades  and  tints. 

Behind  the  Queen  came  on,  in  two  parallel  lines, 


An  Egyptian  Princess  in  her  palanquin  (according  to  Wilkinson). 


EGYPT  3300   YEAKS  AGO.  77 

the  princes  and  princesses  of  the  blood,  the  vassal 
kings,  and  the  dignitaries  of  the  priesthood  and 
the  army.  Detachments  of  the  latter,  regularly 
drawn  up  in  line  by  platoons  under  their  respective 
officers  and  standards,  terminated  the  procession 
which  even  the  long  avenue  of  sphinxes  and  rams,* 
leading  from  the  banks  of  the  river  to  the  main  en- 
trance of  the  temple,  could  not  wholly  contain. 


IN  front  of  the  sacred  edifice  of  which  the  granite 
depths  resounded  with  solemn  and  mysterious 
murmurs,  the  military  music  ceased,  and  the  royal 
pageant  halted. 

The  brazen  gates,  placed  between  two  large  py- 
lons,  gave  passage  to  a  long  succession  of  priestly 
choirs  advancing  to  the  presence  of  Mei-Amoun ; 
these  were  the  local  ecclesiastics  of  all  the  great 
temples  in  the  Empire,  and  all  the  peculiar  creeds 
of  different  places  which  time,  conquest  and  the 
policy  of  legislators  had  made  part  of  the  system 
subordinate  to  Theban  divinity.  They  brought  the 

*  Colossal  stone  statues  of  rams  were  used  like  the 
sphinxes  to  adorn  the  avenues  of  the  temples. 


78  EGYPT  3300   YEABS  AGO. 

benedictions  of  their  gods  to  the  new  son  whom 
Ammon  on  that  day  adopted ;  nay  more,  they 
brought  the  gods  themselves.  Baris  or  barks  sus- 
tained on  the  shoulders  of  groups  of  eighteen  or 
twenty-four  priests,  according  to  the  importance  of 
the  divine  personage  represented  on  the  prow  or 
the  poop  of  each  one  of  them,  contained  small  naos 
or  tabernacles  carefully  veiled  with  a  thick  tissue 
of  silver  and  gold.  There,  hidden  from  the  sight 
of  every  profane  eye,  were  supposed  to  be  stationed 
those  renowned  gods  descended  from  the  Vedic 
Aria  upon  the  land  of  Kemi  at  successive  and  un- 
known epochs,  viz  :  Ph-t-ah  or  Agny,  meaning  fire; 
Ph-Ra  ;*  Jom ;  t  Sevek  ;  $  Asiri  ;  §  and  those  oth- 
er local  conceptions,  half  monster  and  half  myth, 
which  the  pontiff  teachers  of  Ethiopia  had  engraft- 
ed upon  the  coarse  fetiches  of  the  Cushites,  the 
original  inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  and 
which  were  all  associated  in  divine  families  or 
households  analogous  to  the  great  initial  triad  of 
Thebes. 

As  each  bari  filed  along  in  its  place  in  the  proces- 

*  An  equivalent  of  Re,  Ra,  Ri,  La,  El,  the  Sun. 

f  Om,  Aom,  Homa,  the  god  of  the  Cup. 

I  Siva,  g  Asura.  These  were  the  Indian  deities  and  titles 
with  which  the  analogy  of  the  Egyptian  gods  uiid  goddess- 
es is  thus  indicated. 


tfGYPT   3300  YEAES  AGO.  79 

sion,  in  front  of  Mei-Amoun  the  priests  who  carried 
it  mingled  praises  of  the  King  in  their  hymns,  at- 
tributing to  him  all  the  virtues  of  which  their  par- 
ticular deity  was,  more  especially,  the  type,  the  in- 
spiration or  the  symbol :  some  extolled  his  sense  of 
justice  and  his  magnanimity;  others  his  hatred 
of  falsehood  and  his  love  for  the  good  ;  these  sang 
laudations  of  his  wisdom  and  his  prudence  and 
their  control  over  his  passions,  and  those  his 
strength  and  courage  in  overcoming  his  enemies.* 


VL 

THE  tabernacles  of  the  gods  were  followed  by 
statuettes  of  the  royal  ancestors  and  predecessors 
of  Mei-Amounf  also  carried  and  interpreted  by 
priests.  Then,  in  the  midst  of  another  sacerdotal 
group,  the  white  bull,  the  living  emblem  of  Ammon- 
Ba,  covered  with  flowers  and  enveloped  in  a  cloud 
of  incense,  appeared  on  the  threshold  of  the  tem- 
ple, as  though  to  invite  the  new  Aroeri  to  cross  it. 

Then,  descending  from  his  elevated  naos,  Mei- 
Amoun  on  foot  proceeded  through  the  interior 

*  See  Diodorus,  Book  L,  chapter  70. 
t  See  Appendix  VL 


80  EGYPT   3300   YEAES   AGO. 

porticoes  and  the  high  colonnades  of  the  hyposty- 
lic  halls  toward  the  sanctuary  where,  upon  an  altar 
of  porphyry,  sat  the  grand  Theban  triad.  The 
priestly  choirs,  the  sacred  baris,  the  images  of  the 
ancestors,  the  royal  family  and  the  chiefs  of  the 
(Eris  only  went  in  thither  with  him. 

On  his  arrival,  the  high  priest  presiding  over  the 
pageant,  caused  the  pontiffs  officiating  under  him 
to  intone  the  chant  consecrated  to  the  Divine  light 
revealing  itself  to  mortals.  Standing  erect  at  the 
altar,  he  there  received  the  King,  who,  ascending  to 
a  place  beside  him,  aided  him  in  completing  the 
sacrifice  ordained  for  the  occasion ;  poured  out 
consecrated  libations  before  Ammon ;  burned  the 
prescribed  incense,  amid  a  shower  of  flowers,  and 
prostrated  himself  while  pronouncing  these  words, 
at  once  so  haughty  and  so  simple  : 

"I  come  to  my  father  Ammon  at  the  end  of  the 
procession  of  gods  which  he  forever  admits  to  his 
presence." 

During  this  time,  these  same  gods  and  their  ter- 
restrial retinue  wheeled  solemnly  around  the  altar, 
mingling  with  the  homage  that  they  laid  at  the  feet 
of  the  King  of  Heaven,  as  they  passed,  the  wishes 
which  they  expressed  for  the  welfare  of  the  new 
King  of  the  Earth.  The  strange  import  of  these 
antique  litanies  may  be  conjectured  from  the 


••llliilillil 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  83 

following  fragments  which,  have  been  preserved  for 
us  by  the  mural  inscriptions : 

THE  GODDESS  MAUT. 
(The  grand-motJier  and  companion  of  Ammon.) 

"  I  come  to  render  homage  to  the  sovereign  of  the 
gods,  Ammon-Ra,  the  governing  and  controlling 
head  of  the  land  of  Kemi,  in  order  that  he  may 
grant  long  years  to  his  son — King  Barneses — who 
loves  him." 

THE  GOD  KHONS. 
(Son  of  Maut  and  Amman.) 

"  We  approach  thee,  to  serve  thy  Majesty,  Oh, 
sovereign  lord,  Ammon-Ra !  grant  a  pure  and  safe- 
ly established  life  to  thy  son  who  loves  thee, — Ra- 
meses,  the  lord  of  the  Earth." 

THE  QUEEN  NOFKE-ARI. 

"  And  I,  the  royal  spouse,  the  all-powerful  mis- 
tress of  the  world,  I  bring  my  homage,  also,  to  Am- 
mon-Ra, King  of  gods  and  men.  My  heart  rejoices 
in  thy  loving  kindness ;  I  leap  with  delight  under 
the  weight  of  thy  favors.  Oh  thou  who  dost  es- 
tablish the  seat  of  thy  power  in  the  dwelling 
of  thy  son,  the  lord  of  the  world,  Rameses,  accord  to 
him  a  firmly  established  and  pure  life.  May  his 
years  be  counted  by  periods  of  panegyrics." 


Si  KGYPT   3300   YE AHS  AGO. 


VII. 

To  tins  series  of  prayers  and  intercessions,  Am- 
mon-Ra  replies  by  the  mouth  of  his  high-priest 
speaking  to  Mei-Amoun :  "  My  well-beloved  son, 
receive  from  me  a  pure  life  and  long  days  to  pass 
upon  the  throne  of  Kemi.  Thou  shalt  joyously  con- 
trol the  world  ;  Thoth.  has  written  down  beside  thy 
name  all  the  royal  attributes  of  the  celestial  Aroeri. 
The  South  and  the  North,  the  East  and  the  West, 
shah1  be  brought  under  thy  yoke  ;  all  the  good  gates 
shall  be  opened  to  thee.  I  give  the  evil  races  to 
thee  to  trample  beneath  thy  sandals.  The  force  of 
thy  arm  shall  triumph  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
and  the  terror  of  thy  name  shall  stamp  itself  deeply 
on  the  heaps  of  the  barbarians.  I  give  to  thee, 
oh !  my  son,  the  scythe  of  battle  to  restrain  the 
foreign  nations,  and  to  sever  the  heads  of  the  im- 
pure. Take  the  whip  and  the  sceptre  to  rule  the 
land  of  Kemi.  By  my  orders,  the  lady  of  the 
celestial  palace  has  prepared  for  thee,  the  diadem 
of  the  sun.  May  this  helmet  remain  upon  thy  fore- 
head, where  I  place  it,  forever !...." 

At  these  words,  Barneses  having  seized  the  crown 
upon  the  altar  to  place  it  on  his  head,  the  high 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  85 

priest  stretched  forth  his  pastoral  staff  toward  the 
four  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  while  the  assistant 
pontiffs  set  at  liberty  four  living  geese  which,  kept 
in  reserve  until  that  moment,  represented  the  genii 
of  the  four  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  he  ex- 
claimed : 

"Amset,  Hapi  Dawu-Mutef  and  Keba-snuf, 

Go  ye  toward 
The  South,  the  North,  the  "West,  the  East, 

And  tell  the  gods  of  those  regions 

That  Horus,  the  son  of  Isis  and  of  Asiri, 

Has  put  the  Pshent  upon  his  forehead, 

That  King  Rameses  has  put  on  the  Pshent!" 

His  head  encircled  with  this  mystic  tiara,  Mei- 
Amoun  had,  then,  to  cut  with  his  own  hands  a  stalk 
of  wheat  which  had  grown  within  one  of  the  enclos- 
ures of  the  temple,  and  to  place  it  upon  the  altar 
of  Ammon.  This  offering  and  the  reading  aloud 
by  the  high-priest  of  certain  sealed  rules  relative 
to  the  duties  and  conduct  of  kings  terminated 
the  religious  ceremony.  Barneses  was  then  escort- 
ed with  the  white  bull  and  the  images  of  the  ances- 
tral Kings,  back  to  the  exterior  limits  of  the  temple, 
and,  amid  a  cloud  of  incense  and  flowers,  regained 
the  naos  that  was  awaiting  him  in  front  of  the 
pylons ;  then,  preceded  and  followed  with  accla- 
mations, oaths  of  fidelity  and  universal  expressions 


88  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

of  interest  and  regard,  he  advanced  slowly  to  liis 
palace,  between  two  rows  of  sphinxes  whose  granite 
heads,  that  day  adorned  with  ornaments  and  a  roy- 
al or  divine  head-dress  which  determined  the  symbol- 
ical expression  of  each  of  them,  seemed  to  become 
animated  with  the  breath  of  human  enthusiasm  and 
rise  up  to  salute  the  new  sovereign  as  he  passed  by. 

Such  were  the  grand  official  pageants  of  Egypt 
fourteen  centuries  before  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Egyptian  monarchs  celebrated,  during  their 
entire  reign,  the  anniversary  of  their  coronation,  by 
a  ceremony  of  the  same  kind,  less  imposing  no 
doubt  than  the  first,  but  invested,  by  the  events  of 
the  year,  with  more  or  less  interest  and  distinction. 


Yin. 

WERE  the  question  to  be  asked,  "  What  was  the 
position  of  the  people  in  these  festivals?"  and  if 
that  expression  meant  the  plebeian  throng  of 
artisans,  mechanics,  laborers  and  soldiers,  who  to- 
day make  up  the  living  force  of  a  nation,  we  should 
have  to  reply  that  the  people  did  not  exist  in  the 
Egypt  of  the  Rameses,  and  that  the  day  of  their 
appearance  and  rise  had  not  yet  dawned  upon  any 
human  community. 


The  Sphinx  of  Rameses  II.  (according  to  the  Sphinx  at  the  Louvre). 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO.  89 

Below  these  two  classes,  one  of  which  was  the  ed- 
ucating and  the  other  the  conquering  caste  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Nile,  there  were  crowds  of  artisans,  of 
workers-by-hand  who,  under  the  direction  of  chiefs 
belonging  to  the  religious  castes,  cut  and  built  ma- 
sonry ;  melted  and  worked  with  the  metals  ;  spun  flax 
and  byssus  ;  in  fine,  toiled  at  the  trades  assigned  to 
them,  from  the  cradle,  by  law  or  by  descent.  There 
were  farmers  who  tilled  the  lands  given  to  them  by 
the  King,  the  priests  or  the  warriors  who  were  the 
sole  owners  of  the  soil  of  the  empire.  Upon  the 
borders  of  the  deserts,  around  the  oases  and  the 
broad  levels  of  the  Delta,  lived  herdsmen  who 
transmitted,  from  father  to  son,  the  business  of 
raising  and  guarding  the  flocks  and  herds  of  the 
royal  ecclesiastical  or  military  domains.  But  these 
shepherds,  these  laborers,  these  artisans,  excluded 
by  law  from  public  affairs ;  deprived,  also,  of  the 
right  to  bear  arms  and  of  plying  various  trades  at 
once ;  liable  to  be  condemned,  for  each  offence,  to 
imprisonment,  flues  or  the  bastinado,  that  great  re- 
source of  the  stationary -East,  could  not  be  looked 
upon  as  citizens,  by  modern  eyes.  Indeed,  they  do 
not  appear  to  have  differed  much,  upon  the  land  of 
Kemi,  from  the  Sudras  of  India  to  whom  the 
sovereign  Master  of  things  has  assigned  but  one 


90  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

office,  viz.,  that  of  serving  tJie  upper  classes  witlioui 
depredating  tlieir  merits.* 

Below  them,  again,   were  the  slaves  who  had 
been  purchased  in  the  markets  or  captured  in  war. 


IX. 

THIS  condition  of  things,  which  is  not  denied  by 
the  boldest  admirers  of  the  past  history  of  Egypt, 
and  is  attested  by  the  unanimous  reports  transmit- 
ted to  us  twenty  centuries  or  more  ago,  by  the 
sagacious  observers  of  antiquity,  who  went  from  all 
the  centres  of  civilization  in  those  days,  to  the 
borders  of  the  Nile  to  study  a  civilization  older 
than  their  own — this  state  of  things,  we  say,  was 
discredited  by  one  of  our  contemporaries  as  re- 
markable for  the  universality  of  his  learning  as  for 
the  vivacity  of  his  scientific  decisions.  Arguing 
from  th  e  text  of  of  some  funereal  inscriptions,  in 
relation  to  the  civil  or  private  life  of  the  ancient 
dwellers  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  Mr.  J.  J.  Am- 
pere has  felt  authorized  to  declare  that  there  never 
were  castes  among  them.t 

*  Manava  Shastra.     Book  First. 

t  In  reference  to  castes  in  Egypt,  see  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,  15  Sept.,  184=8. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  91 

Without  disputing  the  validity  of  the  documents 
adduced  by  that  savant ;  without  inquiring  whether 
they  did  not  belong  to  periods  of  perturbation  in 
Egyptian  history,  to  times  of  trouble  and  strife,  like 
those  which  preceded  the  eighteenth  and  followed 
the  nineteenth  dynasty;  and  especially  to  ages  of 
decline,  like    those    in  which    the    last  Kameses 
passed  away,  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  ascer- 
taining, with  Mr.  Ampere  himself,  that  if,  at  certain 
epochs  of  Egyptian  history,  the  functions  of  judges, 
engineers,  architects,  chiefs  of  nomes  and  districts, 
seem  to  have  been  exercised  indifferently  by  priests, 
or  by  warriors,  and  if  by  chance  there  was  so  lit- 
tle  demarcation  between    these    two    aristocratic 
classes,  the  same  person  could,  sometimes,  accu- 
mulate   sacerdotal,    military  and   civil  offices,  the 
line  of  separation  between  them  and  the  inferior 
classes  always  remained  so  broad  that    nothing 
could    obliterate    it — not     even    death.     For    the 
honors  paid  to  ancestors  in  the  tombs,  the  admis- 
sion of  their  names  into  the  funereal  inscriptions  do 
not  appear  to  have  ever  ceased  to  be  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  members  of  the  priesthood  and  the 
army. 

It  would  be  easy  to  prove  that  of  the  two  terms 
of  this  proposition,  the  last  affirms  much  more  de- 
cidedly than  the  former  one,  the  existence  of 


92  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

castes.  However  that  may  be,  we  shall  leave  to 
any  one  who  has  studied  in  good  faith,  the  nature 
of  man  and  the  affiliation  of  his  social  conceptions, 
the  task  of  deciding  whether  deductions  drawn 
from  hieroglyphics,  or  from  a  doubtful  interpreta- 
tion and  uncertain  dates,  are  sufficient  to  refute  the 
formal  assertions  of  Herodotus,  Plato,  Strabo  and 
Diodorus,  who  affirmed  nothing  concerning  the  in- 
stitutions of  Egypt  without  having  seen  them  with 
their  own  eyes  and  touched  them  with  their  own 
hands. 

For  our  part,  even  in  the  absence  of  such  testimo- 
ny, the  contemplation  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile, 
which  has  been  for  3000  years  impotent  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  people,  the  sight  of  the  degraded  race 
that  now  occupies  the  homes  of  Thothmes  III.,  of 
Seti  and  of  Mei-Amouu,  would  have  sufficed  to  con- 
vince us  that  this  long  hereditary  lethargy,  this 
stupor  that  has  fallen  there  upon  the  growth  of  that 
progress  of  which  Providence  has  planted  the  seed 
in  the  bosom  of  every  region  and  every  man,  can 
be  attributed  to  nothing  but  the  violence  of  a  rigid 
system  of  castes,  too  profoundly  rooted  into  the 
land  by  conquest,  and  too  long  carried  to  extremes 
by  the  tyranny  of  established  institutions. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS   AGO.  93 

X. 

THIS  point  of  historical  criticism  put  aside,  and 
we  have  touched  npon  it  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  show  how  far  one  may  go  astray,  in  allowing 
oneself  to  be  guided  by  epigraphy  alone,  we  have 
to  admit  that  the  social  ideal  of  our  time  could  not 
have  been  that  of  ancient  days.  Civilization  could 
not  sustain  itself,  at  the  outset,  and  go  on  with  its 
development  excepting  under  the  shelter  of  a 
rigorous  system.  There  must  be  a  coercive  princi- 
ple, material  as  well  as  moral,  to  compel  wandering 
tribes,  whether  rude  shepherds  or  savage  hunters,  to 
become  a  nation.  The  institution  of  castes  promptly 
attained  this  end,  in  Egypt  and  India ;  but  those  who 
promoted  it  could  not  foresee  how  far  their  system, 
carried  out  to  its  ultimate  results,  would  compro- 
mise the  future.  To  the  man  of  those  days  much 
less  than  to  him  who  lives  in  our  own  time,  was  it 
given  to  uplift  his  gaze  far  enough  toward  the  ze- 
nith to  catch  glimpes  of  the  light  reflected  there 
from  the  dawn  that  still  lingers  below  the  horizen. 
He  made  up  for  this  by  creating  according  to  the 
extent  of  his  visual  range  and  his  requirements, 
a  type  of  absolute  monarchy  in  which  the  despot 
could  be,  up  to  a  certain  point,  less  the  tyrant  than 
the  father  of  his  subjects  ;  wherein  each  class  and 


94  EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO. 

each  profession  had  its  allotted  sphere  ;  wherein  a 
religious  dedication  to  the  task,  extending  its  influ- 
ence from  father  to  son,  age  after  age,  confined 
each  individual  within  a  circle  of  cares  and  duties 
amid  which  he  was  to  live  and  die ;  wherein,  finally , 
at  the  cost  of  beholding  all  human  dignities  concen- 
trated upon  a  few  heads,  and  the  free  will  of  each 
one  sacrificed  to  the  rigid  mechanism  of  the  law, 
the  arts  of  peace,  agricultural  abundance,  and  com- 
mercial wealth  seemed  to  diffuse  themselves  over 
the  whole  social  body,  at  the  hands  of  the  sovereign 
lite  the  blessings  that  descend  from  Divinity  itself.* 
Some  of  the  reigns  of  the  eighteenth  and  nine- 
teenth Egyptian  dynasties,  and,  particularly,  that 
of  Barneses  II.,  seem  to  have  attained  the  limits  of 
this  ideal  type. 

*  See  Heeren  "  On  tlie  Commerce  and  Policy  of  the  An- 
cients."   Vol.  I. 


THE  CAMPAIGNS  OF  RAMESES 
THE  GREAT. 


Situation,  Wealth  and  Population  of  Egypt,  on  the  Accession  of 
Barneses. — The  plausible  Motives  for  his  Expeditions.-  -Two 
Razzias  at  an  Interval  of  Thirty-three  Centuries. — Departure  of 
Rameses  for  Asia. — His  Army. — Testimony  of  Tacitus,  Herodo- 
tus, Strabo  and  the  Monuments. — A  Bulletin  of  Victory,  and  a 
Poet  Laureate  of  the  Fourteenth  Century  before  our  Era.  -The 
Battle  of  Atesh. — The  return  of  Rameses. 


WHEN  Rameses  ascended  the  throne,  more  than 
two  centuri-es  had  elapsed  since  the  expulsion  of 
the  Hjcsos.  The  almost  uninterrupted  succession 
of  a  decade  of  memorable  reigns  had  raised  the  in- 
ternal prosperity  of  the  empire,  as  well  as  its  influ- 
ence outside,  to  the  highest  pitch.  The  advan- 
tages resulting  naturally  from  a  long  period  of 
security ;  an  administration  equal  to  the  needs  of 
the  epoch ;  the  multiplication  and  good  manage- 
ment of .  the  canals,  those  peaceful  conquerors  of 
arable  land  won  by  them  from  the  desert,  were 


98  EYGPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

daily  augmenting  the  chances  of  existence  al- 
ready so  easy  on  a  fertile  soil  and  beneath  a  smil- 
ing sky.  And,  while  all  these  causes  combined 
were  making  the  agricultural  and  industrial  classes 
of  Egypt  the  most  laborious  and  the  most  compact 
population  then  existing,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
military  castes,  trained  to  warfare  from  generation 
to  generation  by  a  series  of  successful  distant  expe- 
ditions, presented  in  its  real  effective  force,  and  in 
that  alleged  in  the  exaggerated  figures  handed 
down  to  us  by  the  writers  of  Greece  and  Rome,* 
the  most  martial,  the  best  armed  and  the  most  for- 
midable mass  of  combatants  known  to  those  an- 
cient times. 

Such  elements  of  greatness,  taken  together  with 
the  youth  of  Mei-Amoun  and  his  natural  ardor,  ex- 
cited, as  it  was,  in  the  highest  degree  by  his  first 
triumphs  in  war,  and  by  the  example  of  his  father, 
ren  ler  it  needless  for  us  to  search,  with  the  legend- 
ary historians,  in  the  oracles  of  the  gods  or  the  in- 
terpretation of  dreams,  the  motives  of  his  ambition 
and  his  conquests. 

*  We  cannot  admit  the  700,000  armed  men  spoken  of  in  the 
recital  of  the  Theban  priests  to  Germanicus  (See  the  Annals  of 
Tacitus)  any  more  readily  than  the  picked  force  of  640,000 
reported  by  Diodorus.  Either  of  these  accounts  would  make 
the  numbers  of  the  entire  caste  amount  to  from  two  to  three  mil- 
lions of  individuals,  and  that  is  excessive.  See  Appendix  VII. 


EGYPT  3300  YEABS  AGO.  99 

Moreover,  at  that  time,  great  disorders  were  agi- 
tating the  East,  and  the  noise  of  their  distant  tu- 
mults could  not  but  re-echo  as  far  as  the  borders 
of  the  Nile.     In  the  great  irruptions  that  Seti  I.  had 
guided  toward  Central  Asia,  he  had   repeatedly 
come  into  collision  with  the  confederation  of  the 
Khetas,  in  whose  title  seem  to  He  concealedjboth  that 
of  the  old  Hycsos  and  the  more  modern  name  of  the 
Scythians.     From  the  gorges  of  the  Taurus  and  the 
Lebanon  mountains,  where  they  had  established  then- 
citadels  and  the  centre  of  their  power,  these  ancient 
wandering  races  presided  over  the  great  movements 
of  the  Oriental  populations  which  the  religious  or  so- 
cial convulsions  of  Upper  Asia  were  incessantly  de- 
taching from  the  antique  Aryan  throne,  and  contin- 
ually recruited  their  numbers  with  fresh  swarms. 

There  was  reason  to  apprehend  that,  ere  long,  all 
these  torrents  of  men  would  foUow  the  descending 
channel  worn  for  them  by  former  migrations,  and, 
like  them,  pour  down  and  inundate  Egypt.  To' 
await  their  attacks  was  dangerous.  It  was  better 
to  hasten  to  meet  them  and  to  hurl  them  back  to- 
ward the  sources  whence  they  came,  or,  at  all 
events,  to  break  the  force  of  the  stream,  and  scatter 
its  ramifications  over  the  earth.  Thus,  no  doubt, 
thought  Mei-Amoun,  and  from  the  modern  point  of 
view,  we  cannot  but  agree  with  him. 


100  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

According  to  Diodorus,  whom,  we  think,  we  can 
take  for  our  guide  in  this  matter,  Mei-Amoun  pre- 
pared himself  for  his  great  enterprise  by  such  acts 
as  were  most  likely  to  give  his  popularity  deep  root 
in  the  minds  of  his  subjects.  In  order  to  feel  as- 
sured of  the  fidelity  of  those  whom  he  was  to  leave 
behind  him  on  the  soil  of  his  country,  and  to  make 
certain  of  the  indomitable  perseverance  of  the  com- 
panions in  arms  selected  to  follow  him,  he  strove  to 
link  them  to  his  destiny  by  the  ties  of  interest  and 
of  gratitude.  Affable  and  cordial  with  all,  he  dis- 
played a  liberality  equal  to  his  unlimited  power. 
He  overwhelmed  some  with  gifts ;  to  others  he  dis- 
tributed lands,  while  to  still  others,  again,  he  remit- 
ted the  fines  and  penalties  they  had  incurred,  and 
gave  liberty  to  all  prisoners  of  State,  and  all  who 
had  been  incarcerated  for  debt,  of  whom  the  mul- 
titude then  overstocked  the  jails.* 

The  population  and  area  of  the  Empire  increas- 
ing from  reign  to  reign,  and  necessitating  a  new 
territorial  division,  he  fixed  the  number  of  nom.es  or 
provincial  governments!  at  thirty-six,  and  placed 
at  the  head  of  each,  to  preside  over  the  local  ad- 

*  See  Diodorus,  Book  I. 

f  M.  Brougsch,  who  very  naturally,  will  have  it  that  this 
administrative  division  of  Egypt  dates  back  to  a  period 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  101 

ministration  and  the  collection  of  taxes,  men  whose 
reputation  or  hereditary  attachment  to  his  dynasty 
recommended  them  the  most  to  his  confidence. 
One  of  the  first  results  of  this  scheme  having  been 
an  exact  census  of  the  military  caste,  he  was  en- 
abled to  raise  from  its  midst  an  army  composed  of 
men  who  were  the  most  robust  and  the  most  capa- 
ble of  supporting  the  long  fatigues  and  perilous 
chances  of  distant  or  unknown  climes.  He  gave 
them  for  leaders  the  playmates  of  his  childhood 
and  the  comrades  who  had  shared  the  exploits*  of 
his  early  youth.  All  of  them,  like  himself,  full  of 
ardor  and  ambition  and  inured  to  warlike  exercises, 
were  bound  to  each  other  by  fraternal  ties  of  which 
the  common  bond  was  an  absolute  devotion  to 
Mei-Amoun,  who,  at  the  expense  of  the  treasures 
amassed  by  his  ancestors,  and  the  regions  annexed 
to  the  domains  of  the  crown  by  previous  con- 
quests, had  provided  for  their  pecuniary  welfare 
sufficiently  to  leave  them  free  from  any  other  anxi- 
eties  than  those  of  war.* 

much  anterior  to  Rameses,  raises  the  number  of  nomes  to 
forty-four,  equally  divided  between  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt. 
He  confesses,  however,  that  concerning  many  nomes  of  this 
latter  part  of  the  Egyptian  territory,  he  still  felt  some  lin- 
gering uncertainty,  the  solution  of  which  demands  fresh  re- 
searches and  discoveries. 
*  Diodorus  Book  I,  cli.  LIV. 


102  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

H. 

AFTEB  having  thus  regulated  the  organization  of 
the  interior,  and  of  the  army,  Mei-Amoun  had  still  to 
provide  for  the  security  of  the  frontiers  during  the 
whole  period  of  his  projected  absence,  on  his  distant 
expeditions.  On  the  western  side,  his  possession  of 
the  oases,  maintained  by  fortified  posts,  and 
the  immensity  of  the  desert,  dispelled  the  idea  of  all 
serious  danger.  On  the  north,  the  carefully  secured 
and  guarded  locks  and  barriers  that  closed  the 
seven  mouths  of  the  Nile,  sufficed  to  prevent  the 
rovers  of  the  Mediterranean  from  penetrating  into 
Egypt,  and  the  natives  from  leaving  it.  The  Isth- 
mus of  Suez,  the  point  of  both  departure  and  ar- 
rival for  all  the  Asiatic  routes,  and  partly  covered 
by  the  Bitter  Lakes  which,  at  the  epoch  in  question, 
every  high  tide  still  put  in  communication  with  the 
neighboring  gulf,  was  moreover  sheltered  from  all 
attack  by  the  numerous  military  establishments  that 
were  to  serve  as  a  base  for  the  warlike  operations 
toward  the  East  that  Barneses  was  planning.  There 
remained  the  districts  on  the  south,  ever  exposed  to 
the  descents  of  the  savage  hordes  belonging  to 
the  bad  race  of  Gush,  and  the  Sea-  Weed  Lake,  the 
way  to  which  the  monsoons  of  the  Indian  Ocean 
had  taught  to  the  Pelasgians  from  the  banks  of  the 


EGYPT    3000    TEARS    AGO.  103 

Indus  and  the  Nerbudda.  Always  in  quest  of  ad- 
venture and  pillage,  as  their  brethren  of  the  ^Egeean 
Sea  and  of  the  open  Ocean  were  to  be,  after 
an  interval  of  many  centuries,  they  frequently 
came  thither  to  gather  booty,  sometimes  as  traders 
but  oftener  as  pirates. 

To  remedy  this  double  inconvenience,  two  things 
seemed  necessary  to  Mei-Amoun ; — the  subjuga- 
tion of  Upper  Ethiopia  and  the  establishment  of  a 
military  marine  which,  riding  supreme  on  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Arabian  Gulf,  should,  in  maintaining 
the  security  of  the  two  shores,  guarantee  the  com- 
munications that  trade  and  the  working  of  the  cop- 
per mines  on  the  peninsula  of  Tor  had  kept  open 
between-  them  for  several  centuries.  These  two  en- 
terprises were  interlinked,  because  the  soil  of  Egypt 
and  of  Lower  Nubia  lacking  timber  fit  for  naval 
construction,  it  was  necessary  to  seek  that  mate- 
rial upon  the  broad  plateaux  watered  by  the  tribu- 
taries of  the  great  river  above  Meroe. 

Consequently,  he  penetrated  those  regions  and 
traversed  them  in  every  direction,  at  the  head  of  a 
continually  victorious  army,  exacting  tribute  in 
gold,  ivory,  ebony,  and  building-timber  from  all  the 
Ethiopian  tribes  extending  from  the  Nile  to  the  Bed 
Sea,  who,  until  then,  had  escaped  the  Egypti/in  yoke. 


104  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

Then,  when  the  shipyards  established  in  the  ports 
subsequently  named  Adulis,  Berenice  and  Leucos  * 
had  given  him  the  first  long  vessels  constructed  by 
Egyptian  hands,  t  he  embarked  upon  the  waters  of 
the  Arabian  Gulf,  and  subdued  its  islands,  and  its 
shores  as  far  as  its  southern  extremity.  The  port 
of  Mosselycus,  situated  not  far  from  Cape  Guarda- 
fui,  and  six  hundred  leagues  from  Thebes  was,  accord- 
ing to  Pliny  and  Strabo,  the  extreme  point  reached 
by  Barneses  in  that  direction.:}: 

The  mementoes  of  these  events,  precursors  as 
they  were  of  others  on  a  grander  scale,  may  still  bo 
deciphered  on  the  ruins  that  cover  Mount  Barkal 
to  the  south  of  Nubia,  as  also  among  the  broken  re- 
mains of  the  Bameseum  or  great  temple  of  Thebes, 
on  the  right  bank.  In  one  of  the  bas  relief  pictures 
of  the  speos  of  Ipsamboul,  even  the  triumphal 
entry  of  Barneses  into  his  capital,  on  his  return 
from  the  regions  of  the  south,  has  been  made  out. 

Helmet  on  head,  encased  in  a  coat  of  mail,  and 
erect  in  a  superb  chariot  drawn  by  four  magnifi- 
cently caparisoned  horses,  the  Egyptian  hero,  amid 
the  acclamations  of  his  soldiers,  is  driving  before 

*  Herodotus,  Book  II. 

t  DioJorus,  Book  I,  ch.  Iv. 

J  Strabo,  Book  LVI.    Pliuy  Book  VL 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  105 

him  a  throng  of  negro  and  Leuco-Ethiopean  cap- 
tives with  which  he  is  going  to  do  homage  to  the 
Theban  triad. 

What  meaning  must  we  assign  to  this  terrible 
expression  ?  Egyptian  scholars  refuse  to  see  any- 
thing in  it  but  the  right  which  war  gave  to  the  mas- 
ter over  his  slave,  to  the  victor  over  the  vanquished, 
without  admitting  that  this  right  was  ever  extended 
so  far  as  to  cover  human  sacrifice.  But  those  who 
do  not,  without  some  restrictions,  ascribe  very  pure 
or  very  exalted  light  to  the  Egyptian  priesthood  ; 
those  who  remember  what  pitiless  hatred  to  the 
foreigner  Egypt  bequeathed  to  ah1  the  races  that 
inherited  either  her  blood  or  her  doctrines,  and 
what  unworthy  trophies  the  warriors  of  the  Nile 
sought  out  with  frantic  eagerness  on  the  battle-field ; 
all,  in  fine,  who  acknowledge  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth 
and  twenty-second  verses  of  the  first  book  of  Ex- 
odus to  be  historical  documents,  will,  no  doubt, 
think  with  us  that,  in  the  period  we  describe,  the 
prisoner  of  war  had  but  feeble  guarantees  against 
bloody  oblation,  and  the  treatment  meted  out  to 
the  condemned,  in  the  philanthropy  of  the  priests 
of  Egypt,  the  generosity  of  her  warriors  and  the 
gentleness  or  the  clemency  of  her  kings.* 

*  A  carved  pillar  of  the  reign  of  Amenoph  IL ,  lately  found 
in  the  temple  of  Amada  in  Nubia,  unfortunately  brings 


in. 


ONE  of  the  bas-reliefs  of  Beit-el- Wally  shows  us 
Mei-Amoun  seated  in  a  brilliant  naos  and  causing  a 
long  procession,  the  immediate  result  of  his  victories 
in  Ethiopia,  to  file  before  him.  There  are  groups 
of  prisoners,  among  whom  figures  an  Amenoph,  the 
chief  ruler  of  that  part  of  the  land  of  Gush  which 
the  inscriptions  designate  as  bad ;  tables  and  side- 
boards covered  with  gold-dust  and  golden  rings  ; 
logs  of  ebony  wood,  elephant  tusks,  ostrich  feathers 
and  leopard  skins — all  those  articles  of  luxury  and 
rarity,  in  fine,  which  the  nations  of  the  north  and 
the  east  have  never  ceased,  since  the  time  in  ques- 

terrible  confirmation  to  the  hints  we  have  expressed.  Its 
precise  language  is  this  :  "  After  having  vanquished  his  ene- 
mies, and  enlarged  the  frontiers  of  Egypt,  his  Holiness 
Amenoph  II.)  came  back  from  the  country  of  the  Upper 
Ruteni  (Upper  Assyria)  and  filled  the  heart  of  his  father, 
Aui:iion-Ra,  with  joy ;  for  he  had,  with  his  own  war-club, 
massacred  seven  kings  captured  in  the  city  of  Tasliis  and 
led  in  chains  on  board  of  his  vessel.  Six  of  these  kings,  af- 
ter having  had  their  hands  cut  off,  were  hung  opposite  to 
the  pylons  of  Thebes. 

"As  for  the  other  enemy,  he  was  conveyed  by  water  to 
Nubia,  and  hung  to  the  wall  of  the  city  of  Napata,  to  dis- 
play to  the  evil  raws  of  Cvsh  the  victories  won  by  his 
majesty  over  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  the  manner  in 
\vhich  he  chastises  them." 


EGYPT   3300  YEARS   AGO.  107 

tion,  to  oear  away  from  Africa,  that  mother  of  gold, 
of  slaves  and  of  monsters  who  se  deplorably  prolific 
yield  four  thousand  years  of  pillage  have  not  been 
able  to  exhaust. 

The  names  of  some  of  the  tribes  subjugated  in 
this  expedition  have  tlieir  analogous  equivalents  on 
the  modern  map  of  Abyssinia  and  Sennaar ;  un- 
fortunately, this  similarity  of  names  is  not  the  only 
one  that  may  be  traced  between  those  whom  Mei- 
Amoun  conquered,  and  their  descendants  living  in 
our  own  day. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  present  chiefs  of  the 
Eastern  Soudan  country  annually  organize  murder- 
ing and  robbing  expeditions — ghrazias  or  razzias  as 
they  term  them — against  the  inhabitants  of  the 
higher  levels  of  the  central  table-land  of  Africa. 
Then,  too,  the  narratives  that  modern  travellers  give 
of  these  acts  of  plunder  sound  like  a  faithful  transla- 
tion of  the  legends  explaining  one  of  the  bas-reliefs 
of  Beit-el-Wally  destined  to  transmit  to  posterity 
the  remembrance  of  a  raid  directed  by  Barneses 
against  the  Nahazis,  the  ancestors  of  the  negroes  of 
the  present  day. 

According  to  the  hieroglyphic  recital  legible 
there,  "The  barbarians,  utterly  routed,  are  flying 
in  consternation  before  the  Egyptian  hero,  who  is 
pursuing  them  in  a  chariot,  at  furious  speed,  and 


108  EGYPT  3300   YEARS   AGO. 

reaches  them  with  his  arrows  even  in  the  shelter  of 
their  forests.  Men,  women,  children  and  grey- 
beards, terrified  at  the  sight  of  the  carnage,  are 
vainly  endeavoring  to  escape  extermination,  and  to 
find  a  refuge  in  retreats  that  they  share  with  the 
wild  beasts."* 

In  connection  with  this  picture,  read  another 
description  sketched  but  yesterday,  nearly  on  the 
same  spot,  and  in  which  the  descendants  of  the 
same  hostile  races  figure  : 

"  The  Abyssinian  army  had  furiously  pursued  the 
wretched  tribe  of  Soddo-Gallas,  and  their  horsemen 
had  soon  overtaken  a  crowd  of  old  men,  women 
and  children  unable  to  escape.  The  sight  of  these 
unfortunate  people,  far  from  awaking  in  them  that 
sentiment  of  compassion  so  natural  to  us  when  we 
behold  helpless  feebleness,  only  served  to  excite 
their  brutal  instinct  for  bloodshed.  Some  of  them 
came  back  with  their  bleeding  trophies  paraded  in 
the  most  indecent  manner,  and  vaunted  their  ex- 
ploits in  obscene  recitals;  others  brought  with 
them  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  helpless 
wretches  whom  they  had  massacred  or  mutilated. 
It  was  but  one  long  wail  of  grief  and  despair. 


*  Cliampollion's  Letters  written  from  Egypt  and  Nubia.— 
Cherubini's  Nubia.     Firmin  Didot. 


EGYPT  3300  TEAKS  AGO.  Ill 

When  the  army  pressed  forward  in  the  direction  of 
a  thicket  where  the  Gallas,  it  was  supposed,  had 
taken  refuge,  I  withdrew,  so  as  not  to  witness  the 
slaughter  of  the  poor  creatures  who,  to  escape  the 
j&velins  hurled  at  them,  were  clambering  up  into 
the  trees.  There  they  were  shot  like  sparrows,  and 
thither,  also,  came  the  king,  who  would  not  have 
missed  a  humming-bird,  at  blank  range,  to  bring 
down  a  miserable  fugitive  from  the  covert  of  the 
branches  where  he  had  tried  to  hide  himself."* 

Between  these  two  narratives  thirty-three  centu- 
ries had  elapsed,  sweeping  away  the  Pharaohs 
and  their  empire,  along  with  the  nations  that  re- 
placed them  on  the  stage  of  the  world  and  the  gods 
that  dethroned  their  gods.  All  the  races  who 
owned  submission  to  Horus,  the  divine  shepherd  of 
men,  have,  turn  by  turn,  seized  and  borne  the 
sceptre  of  civilization  and  renewed  the  face  of  the 
Earth.  The  Nahazis  form  the  sole  exception. 
Cast  outside  of  the  track  of  the  great  migrations  ; 
fastened  to  a  harsh  and  enervating  soil,  under  a  sky 
of  brass,  they  remained  motionless,  in  their  barbar- 
ism, their  ignorance,  and  their  native  weakness  and 
terror ;  having  no  other  relations  with  the  remain- 
ing members  of  the  great  family  than  such  as  the 

*  Clias.  Lefevre's  Journey  to  Abyssinia,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  245,  246. 


112  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

wild  animals  of  their  forests  hold  with  the  hunter, 
they  have  for  five  thousand  years  paid  to  them  tri- 
bute of  flesh  and  blood,  and  seen  the  bones  of  their 
children  scattered  to  all  the  four  quarters  of  the 
globe,  along  the  roads  that  lead  to  every  slave 
mart.  Gloomy  fate !  unjustifiable  in  every  age,  but 
especially  so  in  ours,  when  civilization,  grown  up 
and  triumphant,  no  longer  needs,  as  it  did  in  the 
time  of  the  Barneses,  to  secure  its  cradle  against 
the  assaults  of  barbarism,  and  has  ceased  to  be,  for 
any  nation,  a  privileged  deposit,  the  jealous  safe- 
keeping of  which  implies,  as  the  first  of  social  du- 
ties, hatred,  war  and  oppression  for  the  stranger. 


IV. 

THE  preceding  facts  must  have  fully  occupied  the 
first  two  years  of  the  reign  of  Mei-Amoun,  and  it 
was  probably  only  toward  the  beginning  of  the  third 
that,  having  provided  for  all  that  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  vast  designs  demanded,  and  having 
confided  the  government  of  Egypt  to  the  Queen, 
assisted  by  a  council  of  regency,  he  set  in  move- 
ment for  the  conquest  of  Asia  the  masses  which  he 
had  accumulated  with  that  intent  on  the  borders 
of  the  Isthmus. 


EGYPT   3300  YEAES  AGO.  115 

If  the  monuments  have  not  placed  it  in  our  pow- 
er to  correct  the  assertions  of  the  ancients  with  re- 
gard to  the  numerical  strength  of  that  army,  they 
at  least  leave  us  in  the  way  to  compensate  for  the 
silence  that  they  have  maintained  with  regard  to 
the  material  of  which  it  was  composed. 

The  cavalry  of  our  modern  armies  was  represent- 
ed in  it,  as  it  continued  to  be  for  a  long  time  after- 
ward by  squadrons  of  war-chariots  manned  by 
the  flower  of  the  CEris.*  The  rest  of  the  military 
caste  furnished  the  hoplites  or  troops  of  the  line  on 
foot,  who,  protected  by  a  cuirass  and  shielded  by 
a  buckler,  used  the  lance,  the  sword  and  the  battle- 
axe  in  combat,  and  manoeuvred,  according  to  pre- 
scribed rules,  eight  or  ten  men  deep.  Then,  there 
was  the  light  infantry,  whose  duty  it  was  to  recon- 
noitre and  clear  the  roads,  to  skirmish  in  the  ad- 
vanced guard,  and  to  cover,  with  its  cloud  of  archers 
and  slingers,  the  wings  of  the  army  and  the  inter- 
vals between  the  chariots.  It  probably  recruited 
among  the  auxiliary  tribes  on  the  frontiers,  and 
from  the  Ethopian  allies  its  numerous  soldiers 

*  The  number  of  these  chariot  teams,  each  consisting  of 
two  horses  at  least,  indicates  clearly  the  importance  and  the 
degree  of  development  which  the  business  of  raising  and 
training  that  noble  race  of  animals  had  assumed  in  the  few 
generations  that  had  elapsed  since  their  introduction  on  the 
borders  of  the  Nile. 


116  EGYPT  3300  YEARS    AGO. 

who,  armed  with  all  the  projectile  weapons  known 
at  that  period,  held  also  in  reserve  for  hand  to  hand 
struggles  that  terrible  battle  scythe  or  sickle,  the 
murderous  use  of  which  has  been  perpetuated  to 
this  day  in  Africa,  among  the  Abyssinians  and  the 
Gallas,  and  in  Asia,  among  the  Ghoorkas  of  the 
Himalayas  and  of  the  Western  Ghauts. 

All  these  troops  performed  their  evolutions  to 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet  and  the  drum,  under  the 
banners  oi  their  respective  chiefs ;  but  above  all 
these  special  and  subordinate  symbols,  there  rose 
at  the  extremity  of  a  tall  and  strong  staff,  the  en- 
sign of  the  Empire,  aD  glittering  with  the  splendor 
of  pure  and  massive  gold.  It  consisted  of  a  ram's 
head  surmounted  with  the  solar  disk,  the  double 
symbol  of  Ammon-Ea  leading  his  worshippers 
against  the  hostile  races.  Borne  along  on  a  mag- 
nificent chariot,  which  had  to  be  kept  close  to  that 
of  the  sovereign,  under  all  circumstances,  this  ven- 
erated emblem,  indicated  to  the  gaze  of  all, — on 
the  march,  and  in  actual  battle, — the  centre  of  the 
army  and  the  presence  of  its  leader, — and  when  in 
camp,  the  position  of  the  royal  pavilion. 


V. 

FBOM  the  borders  of  the  Nile  to  those  of  the  Ti- 
gris, Barneses  could  follow  routes  upon  which  near- 
ly all  his  predecessors,  dating  from  Thothmes  I.,  had 
left  some  land-marks.  Since  the  opulent  Pentapo- 
lis  of  the  Jordan  had  sunk  in  the  bituminous  gulf 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  most  compact  centres  of  per- 
manent population,  existing  between  Egypt  and 
upper  Asia,  were  the  maritime  establishments  which 
the  Cushites  of  Canaan,  driven  from  the  shores  of 
the  Erythrean  gulfs  by  convulsions  of  the  soil,  had 
founded  upon  the  Syrian  coast ;  the  fortified  cities 
which  the  Khetas  had  built  between  the  Orontes 
and  the  Euphrates,  and,  lastly,  Babel  in  the  land  of 
Shinar,  where  a  celebrated  temple  of  the  Sun  and 
a  great  navigable  river,  attracted  caravans  and  flo- 
tillas of  pilgrims  and  traders  from  all  directions. 

To  the  eastward  of  the  Naharain  country — Naha- 
raina-Kah  on  the  Ipsamboul  inscriptions,  mean- 
ing Mesopotamia, — rise  the  mountainous  regions, 
that,  at  a  later  period,  were  to  form  the  nu- 
cleus of  the  empires  of  Semiramis  and  Cyrus. 
Here,  for  Barneses,  the  realm  of  the  unknown  began, 
and  an  entire  new  world  opened  before  him,  in 
which  he,  undoubtedly,  had  no  other  guide  than  the 


118  EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO. 

instinctive  hatred  against  the  men  of  the  North- 
east that  animated  his  army,  and  the  fugitive  cur- 
rents of  the  tribes  and  races  with  which  he  camo 
into  collision  as  he  passed  on. 

Nevertheless,  one  may  infer  from  the  narrations 
on  this  subject  which  the  ancients  have  left  to  us, 
separating  them  from  the  exaggerations  credited 
by  Diodorus,  that  the  march  of  the  Egyptian  con- 
queror, at  first  directed  eastward,  touched,  perhaps, 
on  the  Hindoo  Koosh  and  JBactrian  country,  and  then 
diverging  toward  the  north,  turned  back  again  by 
a  long  elliptical  curve  and  debouched  upon  the 
European  shores  of  the  Propontis.  Thus,  Barneses 
II.  after  having  left  the  imprint  of  his  feet  upon  the 
rocks  of  Cape  Guardafui,  could,  after  an  interval  of 
some  years,  cause  images  of  himself  to  be  graven 
on  the  mythical  terraces  of  the  Indian  Parnassus, 
and  appear  in  the  semblance  of  a  fearful  and  un- 
known god  to  the  savages  inhabiting  the  shores 
of  the  Thracian  Bosphorus.  We  must  run  down 
along  the  lists  of  chronology  more  than  ten  centu- 
ries in  order  to  again  find  in  the  son  of  Philip  so 
indefatigable  a  promoter  of  the  mixture  of  races, 
and  the  diffusion  of  ideas. 

When  Germanicus,  one  of  the  latest  heroes  of 
antique  society  in  its  decline,  for  whom  Rome  wept 
bitterly  and  whom  Tacitus  extolled,  repaired  to  the 


EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO.  121 

East  where  a  premature  death  awaited  him,  he  vis- 
ited the  vast  remains  of  Thebes  in  sober  medita- 
tion, and,  having  asked  one  of  the  priests  then  pre- 
sent, a  living  relic  in  the  midst  of  so  many  ruins, 
the  meaning  of  the  sacred  characters  that  covered 
the  edifices  still  standing,  the  latter  replied  while 
he  interpreted  the  inscriptions,  that  the  King  Ba- 
rneses, at  the  head  of  an  army  of  700,000  men,  had 
subjugated  Libya  and  Ethiopia,  the  country  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians,  Bactria  and  Scythia  ;  that  he 
had  brought  under  the  yoke  of  his  empire,  the 
countries  inhabited  by  the  Syrians  and  the  Arme- 
nians, Cappadocia,  which  is  near  to  them,  and  all 
hither  Asia  from  the  Sea  of  Bithynia  to  that  of  Ly- 
cia.*.  , 


VI. 


HERODOTUS,  who  preceded  Gerrnanicus  by  more 
than  450  years  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  and  Ta- 
citus by  at  least  five  centuries  in  history,  likewise 
reports,  in  accordance  with  the  statement  of  the 
priests,  that  Sesostris  (Barneses  II.),  after  the  sub- 


*  See  the  Annals  ot  Tacitus,  Book  II.,  cliap.  lx. 


122  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

jugation  of  Ethiopia,  marched  with  a  numerous 
army  to  the  conquest  of  Asia,  and  subdued  all  the 
nations  he  encountered  on  the  way,  taking  care, 
after  each  victory,  to  erect  landmarks  upon  which 
inscriptions  narrated  the  details  of  the  combat, 

the  name  of  his  country  and  his  own 

Thus  traversing  the  continent,  he  passed  from  Asia 
into  Europe,  and  subdued  the  Thracians  and  Scyth- 
ians ;  "  but  I  do  not  think,"  adds  the  historian, 
"  that  he  penetrated  any  farther  in  that  direction, 
for,  although  we  find  among  the  last  named  nations 
the  trophies  that  he  set  up,  none  are  discovered  be- 
yond their  confines." 

"  Retracing  his  steps,  he  halted  on  the  banks  of 
the  Phasis ;  but  I  do  not  make  out  clearly  whether 
it  was  voluntarily  that  he  left  a  part  of  his  army 
there  to  colonize  the  country ;  or  whether  detach- 
ments of  his  soldiers,  fatigued  and  exhausted  by 
their  long  marches,  settled  there  in  spite  of 
him 

"  However  that  may  be,  it  appears  positive  that 
the  Colchians  are  of  Egyptian  origin.  I  suspected 
this  fact;  others  had  mentioned  it  to  me,  and  I 
wished  to  make  certain  of  it  for  myself.  I  can  affirm 
that  the  two  nations  have  retained  remembrances 
of  each  other,  which  are  much  more  vivid,  however, 
among  the  Colchians  than  among  the  Egyptians. 


Bass-Relief  of  Sesostris  near  Sardis,  from  a  photograph. 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO.  125 

.  .  .  These  nations  both  have  a  black  skin 
and  woolly  hair  .  .  .  practise  circumcision ; 
live  in  the  same  manner;  cultivate  and  work  flax 
in  the  same  style  ;  in  fine,  speak  the  same  language.* 
Herodotus  adds  that  most  of  the  monuments  which 
Sesostris  had  caused  to  be  set  up  in  commemora- 
tion of  his  victories  had  already  ceased  to  exist,  in 
his  day ;  but  that  he  had,  with  his  own  eyes,  seen 
as  many  as  three, — which  have  been  found  in  our 
time,  at  the  places  pointed  out ;  one  in  Syrian 
Palestine  and  the  other  two  in  Ionia,  on  the  roads 
from  Ephesus  to  Phocaea  and  from  Smyrna  to 
Sardis.  "Each  one  of  these,  carved  in  relief  on  a  Avail 
of  rock,  represents  a  warrior  five  cubits  in  height, 
holding  a.javelin  in  his  right  hand,  and  in  his  left 
a  bow.  The  rest  of  his  equipment  is  equally 
Egyptian  and  Ethiopian.  On  his  breast,  he  bears 
an  inscription  in  sacred  characters,  to  this  purport  : 
"  It  is  I  who  have  conquered  this  country  by  the  strength 
of  my  arm"* 

Strabo,  whose  birth  in  Asia  Minor  and  long 
journeys  in  the  East  gave  him  the  opportunity  to 
verify  or  correct  with  his  own  eyesight  the  asser- 
tions of  the  father  of  history,  declares  that  the 
routes  followed  by  Eameses-Sesostris  had  been  dofr- 

*  Herodotus,  Book  IL,  chaps.  102,  103,  104,  105. 


126  EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO. 

ted  with  commemorative  columns,  inscriptions,  bas- 
reliefs  and  temples.* 

The  great  historical  pages  of  Ipsamboul,  Luxor 
and  Karnak  confirm  in  most  of  their  details,  with- 
out invalidating  any,  the  preceding  attestations  of 
the  two  great  historians  of  Greece  and  Home,  and 
of  the  erudite  geographer  of  Amasia  ;  only  that  one 
must  not  expect  to  find  in  these  monumental  in- 
scriptions the  ethnical  data  of  the  nations  and  em- 
pires enumerated  in  the  text  of  those  writers.  The 
ethnography  of  the  days  of  Barneses  transmitted 
but  very  few  names  to  those  of  the  Hellenic  and 
Roman  epochs.  If  appellations  like  Luki  and 
Naharain  may  be  easily  translated  in  them  by 
"  Lycians "  and  "  Mesopotamia,"  the  wandering 
tribes  of  Arabia  figure  there  only  as  the  children 
of  the  red  soil :  the  Rotenians  hold  the  place  after- 
ward occupied  by  the  Assyrians ;  Sengar  is  the 
name  of  the  country  of  Babel,  and  in  the  regions 
where  the  empires  of  Media  and  Persia  were  to 
be  reared,  the  Remeni,  the  Moshaushs  and  the 
Robus  f  range  themselves  along  from  north  to 
south,  between  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Ocean. 
Then,  farther  on,  beyond  that  zone,  in  the  vanguard 

*  Strabo.     Book  XVII. 
t  See  Appendix  VIII. 


EGYPT   3300  YEAES   AGO.  127 

of  the  East,  the  offensive  designation  of  the  plague 
ofli/ieta  marks  out  upon  an  immense  space  not  lim- 
ited toward  the  north,  the  numberless  and  warlike 
nomadic  hordes  which,  since  the  days  of  the  Hyc- 
sos,  had  supplied  the  most  implacable  enemies 
known  to  the  warriors  of  the  borders  of  the  Nile. 

It  is  not  without  some  emotion  that  the  historian 
records  these  names,  effaced  so  many  centuries  ago 
from  the  memory  of  mankind ;  but  especially  is  it 
not  without  profound  interest  that,  amid  these  for- 
gotten generations,  which  however  took  part,  ac- 
cording to  their  gifts  and  opportunities,  in  the  hu- 
naanitary  task  of  their  period,  he  is  enabled  to 
ascertain  the  presence  of  the  ancestors  of  a  people 
who,  after  having  long  held  the  sceptre  of  antique  civ- 
ilization, have  arisen  before  our  eyes  from  the  tomb 
iu  which  the  ages  had  buried  them,  to  claim  a 
place  among  the  modern  nations.  It  will  be  un- 
derstood that  we  are  here  referring  to  the  louni,  evi- 
dently identical  with  the  Javans  of  the  Hebrew 
books,  and  the  Yavanas  of  the  Hindoos,  whose 
tribes,  scattered  and  floating  about  over  Western 
Asia  after  their  expulsion  from  Ariawarta,  their 
original  country,  undoubtedly  owed  to  their  inva- 
sion by  Barneses  Mei-Amoun,  to  their  struggles 
with  that  conqueror  and  their  flight  before  his  vic- 
torious armies,  their  concentration  in  the  region 


128  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

surrounding  the  .ZEgean  Sea,  and  thereby,  too,  the 
germ  of  their  long  subsequent  history. 

This  double  fact  of  an  ancient  antagonism  in  the 
heart  of  Asia,  between  the  forefathers  of  the  Greeks 
and  the  warriors  of  the  Nile,  and  of  the  alliance  of 
the  former  with  the  ancestors  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  would  no  doubt  have  awakened  singular 
incredulity  among  the  contemporaries  of  Themisto- 
cles  or  Plato.  Nevertheless,  it  has  been  repeatedly 
affirmed  by  Champollion,  who,  in  the  inscriptions  at 
Kamak  and  in  the  Rameseum  existing  side  by  side, 
with  the  names  of  barbarous  nations,  in  northern 
costumes,  with  shaven  heads  or  their  hair  raised  in 
a  single  lock  or  wisp  like  that  of  the  "  Ked  Skins  " 
of  America  or  the  Mongols  of  Asia,  declares  that 
he  read  the  title  of  these  louni  whose  blue  eyes  and 
golden  hair*  Homer  was  to  celebrate  some  ages 
later. 


*  This  version  of  the  illustrious  Egyptian  scholar  is  sus- 
tained by  Messrs.  Birch  andLepsius,  who  think  that  they  have 
again  come  across  the  same  name  of  a  nation  which  they 
spell  Ya-bu-na  in  the  inscriptions  attributed  -by  them  to  the 
12th  and  13th  dynasties. 


EGYPT   3300    YEAKS    AGO.  129 


VII. 

FOE  Champollion,  the  Khetas  were  Scythians ; 
but  M.  de  Rouge,  followed  by  all  the  Egyptian 
scholars  of  the  present  day,  considers  them  110  other 
than  the  Chets  or  Hittites  of  the  Bible,  whose  power- 
ful confederation  comprised,  in  the  time  of  Rameses, 
a  portion  of  Mesopotamia  and  the  whole  north  of 
Syria  on  the  two  slopes  of  the  Lebanon. 

Whoever  coincides  with,  the  ideas  that  we  have 
advanced  in  the  preceding  pages,  in  reference  to 
the  Scythians  of  Justimis  and  T.  Pompeius,  will 
consider  the  difference  of  opinion  existing,  on  this 
point,  between  the  founder  of  Egyptian  research 
and  his  worthiest  successor,  as  reducing  itself  to 
a  mere  ethnical  question,  the  same  thing  being 
transcribed  in  two  different  idioms. 

A  formidable  revolt  of  the  Asiatic  tribes  sum- 
moned Rameses  into  the  midst  of  their  encamp- 
ments in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign.  In  following 
the  steps  of  the  conqueror  thither,  we  have  uner- 
ring guides.  The  historical  pictures  dedicated  to 
this  campaign  adorn  a  great  number  of  monuments ; 

•» 

rthey  moreover  comprised  the  first  bulletin  of  vic- 
tory that  history  has  picked  up.  Besides,  M.  de- 
Rouge  has  analyzed  or  translated  them,  here  and 


130  EGYPT   3300   YEAES  AGO. 

there,  with  his  usual  penetration,  in  a  special  paper 
from  which  we  borrow  the  following  passages  : 

"  While  studying  the  battles  represented  in  these 
mural  paintings,  says  the  learned  and  conscientious 
philologist,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  a  singu- 
lar episode  in  which  the  personal  valor  of  the  King 
seems  to  have  extricated  him  from  great  peril: 
hence,  too,  it  is  repeated,  as  though  by  emulation,  in 
the  paintings  of  all  the  temples.  Twice  given  in 
the  Bameseum,  it  is  also  found  at  Luxor,  at  Ipsam- 
boul  and  at  Beit-el-Wally.  In  addition  to  the 
bulletin  of  the  campaign  reproduced  by  these  bas- 
reliefs,  a  manuscript  which  Champollion  has  made 
famous  in  science,  the  papyrus  of  Sallier,  now  be- 
longing to  the  British  Museum,  has  preserved  for 
us  the  greater  part  of  a  poem  composed  at  the  very 
period  of  the  battle  by  a  writer  of  the  court  of  Ba- 
rneses named  Penta-ur.  Champollion  appears  to 
have  copied  only  a  few  lines  of  this  manuscript : 
nevertheless,  his  great  knowledge  of  the  Egyptian 
texts,  revealed  to  him,  as  by  instinct,  the  extremely 
interesting  character  of  this  document.  He  recog- 
nized in  it  the  characteristics  of  a  historical  poem, 
and  gathered  from  it,  at  the  outset,  the  names  of 
the  hostile  tribes  in  league  with  the  Prince  of 
Kheta.  But,  neither  Champollion  nor  his  succes- 
•^rs  had  discerned  the  real  theme  of  this  epic  frag- 


EGYPT   3300    YEARS   AGO.  133 

ment,  to  wit :  the  great  peril  to  which  Kameses  was 
exposed,  when  separated  from  his  army  and  at- 
tacked, with  his  feeble  escort,  by  a  picked  force 
consisting  of  twenty-five  hundred  chariots.  This 
is  the  characteristic  trait  that  enabled  me  to  recog- 
nize the  same  incident  carved  on  all  the  temples. 
The  poem  of  Pen-ta-ur  was  esteemed  by  his  con- 
temporaries, for  it  had  the  distinguished  honor  to 
be  carved  upon  one  of  the  walls  of  Karnak,  which 
it  completely  covered.  It  is  too  much  defaced,  at 
the  present  day,  to  serve  for  the  completion  of  the 
manuscript ;  but  the  number  of  the  columns  form- 
erly filled  with  hieroglyphics  leads  us  to  conjecture 
tha  at  least  the  first  third  part  of  the  poem  is 
lacking. 

The  historian  may  fill  this  deficiency,  to  some  ex- 
tent, by  the  aid  of  the  official  bulletins  of  the  cam- 
paign, which  the  pictures  of  Ipsamboul  and  the 
Ilameseum  have  preserved  almost  intact ;  they  will 
explain  to  us  by  what  stratagem  the  hostile  leader 
had  succeeded  in  cutting  off  the  Pharaoh  and  his 
retinue  from  the  bulk  of  his  army. 

But  I  must  first  give  notice  that  we  are  not  as 
yet  able  to  exactly  determine  the  locality  of  the  oc- 
currence. The  tribes  of  Mesopotamia  figure  with 
those  of  Syria  in  the  confederation  commanded  by 
the  Prince  of  Kheta  ;  the  city  of  Atesh,  near  which 


134  EGYPT    3300   YEARS   AGO. 

the  fight  took  place,  was  the  strongest  post  in  the 
control  of  those  tribes  ;  the  Egyptian  armies  moved 
via  the  north  of  Syria  to  reach  the  country  in  ques^ 
tion,  and  the  city  was  washed  by  a  river  called 
the  Aranta.  This  name  naturally  recalls  that  of  the 
Orontes,  the  only  river  of  importance  in  Syria  ;  yet 
this  is  all  that  we  can  say,  at  present,  with  regard  to 
the  position  of  a  place  that  underwent  several  sieges, 
beheld  bloody  battles  fought  under  its  walls,  and 
seems  to  have  been  the  culminating  point  of  the 
earliest  struggles  made,  in  those  primitive  times, 
for  the  mastery  of  the  world." 

"Such  are  the  facts  that  stand  forth  from  the 
story  of  the  campaign  as  it  is  found  carved  at  Ib- 
samboul  and  in  the  Ilameseum. 

"  In  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign,  on  the  ninth  day 
of  the  eleventh  month,  (Epiphi,)  Rameses  was  in 
Asia  with  his  army,  marching  against  the  insurgent 
tribes  commanded  by  the  prince  of  Kheta.  The 
king  was  advancing  to  the  southward  of  the  city, 
but  he  lacked  information  concerning  the  position 
of  the  hostile  army,  when  some  Bedouins  came  in ' 
to  offer  their  services,  and  told  him  that  the  prince 
of  Kheta,  intimidated  by  the  Egyptian  advance,  had 
retired  toward  the  south,  in  the  direction  of  the 
Khirab  country.  But  these  rovers  were  emissaries 
of  the  foe,  specially  entrusted  with  the  task  of  mis- 
leading the  Egyptians  by  their  false  reports.  The 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO.  135 

confederates  had  really  massed  their  forces  secretly 
to  the  northward  of  Atesh.  Barneses,  thus  de- 
ceived, moved  to  the  northwestward  of  that  city, 
and  drew  near  to  the  enemy.  At  this  juncture,  his 
scouts  brought  in  to  him  two  other  Kheta  spies,  who, 
after  being  severely  bastinadoed,  confessed  that  they 
had  been  sent  to  examine  the  position  of  the  Egyp- 
tian army,  and  that  aU  the  confederate  forces  were 
concentrated  behind  the  city  of  Atesh  watching 
the  movements  of  the  Pharaoh  for  an  opportunity 
to  attack  him  at  advantage. 

"  Barneses  caUs  his  generals  together ;  repri- 
mands them  sternly  for  their  lack  of  vigilance,  and 
informs  them  that  the  Prince  of  the  Khetas,  use- 
lessly pursued  toward  the  south,  by  the  Egyptian 
army,  is  there  under  the  walls  of  Atesh  ready  to 
precipitate  himself  upon  them.  The  generals  ac- 
knowledge their  delinquency,  and  that  of  the  leaders 
of  the  scouts,  who  had  obtained  no  information 
concerning  the  enemy's  movements.  An  officer  is 
then  despatched  in  hot  haste,  to  the  main  body  of 
the  army  which  is  pursuing  its  march  to  the  south- 
ward, thus  uncovering  the  position  of  the  king 
more  and  more. 

"While  this  council  of  war  is  being  held,  the 
Prince  of  Kheta  causes  his  troops  to  advance  rap- 
idly to  the  southward  of  Atesh,  and  long  before  the 


136  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

Egyptian  army  has  time  to  retrace  its  steps,  the  lit- 
tle band  of  followers  and  attendants  who  accom- 
pany the  king  is  dispersed,  and  Barneses  finds  him 
self  surrounded  by  the  hostile  chariots.'1* 

It  is  into  the  midst  of  this  critical  phase  of  the 
action  that  what  remains  of  the  poem  of  Penta-ur 
transports  us.  The  papyrus,  worn  and  rent  in 
many  places,  as  it  is,  exhibits  many  a  gap  ;  and  we 
confess,  with  ah1  humility,  that  we  have  endeavored 
to  supply  some  of  its  deficiencies  by  the  help  of  the 
notes  that  Champollion  has  left,  in  reference  to  the 
same  subject. f 


VIII. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  SALLIER  PAPYRUS. 

THE  prince  of  Kheta  came  with  his  archers  and 
his  horsemen  well  armed  ;  every  chariot  bore  three 
men.  They  had  gathered  together  the  swiftest 
warriors  of  those  base  Khetas,  carefully  armed 
....  and  had  placed  themselves  in  ambush  to 

*  See  the  Vicomte  Em.  de  Kongo's  Memoir  on  the  Cam- 
paigns of  Sesostris,  Revue  Contemporaine,  August,  185G. 
f  The  reader  will  recognize  these  fragments  by  the  murk 
which  we  have  placed  before  and  after  them. 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO.  137 

the  northwest  of  the  city  of  Atesh.  They  attacked 
the  soldiers  of  the  king  when  the  sun,  god  of  the 
two  horizons,  was  at  the  middle  of  his  course  :  the 
latter  were  on  the  march,  and  were  not  expecting 
an  attack.  The  archers  and  the  horsemen  of  his 
Majesty  fell  back  before  the  enemy,  who  was  master 

of  Atesh    on  the  left  bank  of  the  Aranta 

Then  his  Majesty,  strong  and  sound  in  constitution, 
rising  like  the  god  Month,  put  on  the  panoply  of 
battle :  arrayed  in  his  weapons  he  was  like  unto 
Baal  in  his  hour.  The  mighty  coursers  of  his 
Majesty  (strength  in  Thebais  was  their  name)  came 
forth  from  the  grand  stables  of  the  Sun,  the  lord  of 
justice,  Barneses  Mei  Amoun.* 

The  king,  rushing  forth  in  his  chariot,  plunged 
into  the  ranks  of  the  despicable  Kheta  :  he  was 
alone,  no  other  near  him.  This  onset  his  Majesty 
made  in  sight  of  his  whole  retinue.  He  found  him- 
self surrounded  on  all  sides  by  two  thousand  five 
hundred  swift  chariots,  manned  by  the  bravest  war- 
riors of  the  pitiful  Kheta  and  his  numerous  allies : 
AraduSj  Masu,  Patasa,  Kaslikash,  (Elon,  Gazwa- 
tan,  Khirdb,  Aktar,  Atesh  and  Rdka.  Each  of 

*  The  Louvre  Museum  (Historical  Hall,  case  G)  possesses 
a  golden  ring  of  singular  shape,  representing,  on  its  collet, 
two  tiny  horses  in  relief.  It  may  be  that  in  them  we  behold 
a  souvenir  of  the  two  steeds  of  Barneses  II.,  who  consecrated 
them  to  the  Sun  on  his  first  return  from  Egypt. 


138  EGYPT   3300   YEABS   AGO. 

their  chariots  bore  three  men  ....  and  the 
king  had  with  him  neither  his  princes,  nor  his  gen- 
erals, nor  the  captains  of  the  archers  or  of  the 
chariots. 

And  this  is  what  his  Majesty  of  the  sound  and 
strong  life  said : 

"What,  then,  is  the  intent  of  my  father  Am- 
mon  ?  Is  it  a  father  who  would  deny  his  son?  Or 
have  I  trusted  to  my  own  thoughts  ?  Have  I  not 
walked  according  to  thy  word  ?  Has  not  thy  mouth 
guided  my  goings  forth,  and  thy  counsels  have 
they  not  directed  me  ?"  .  .  . 

"  Have  I  not  dedicated  to  thee  magnificent  festi- 
vals in  great  number,  and  have  I  not  filled  thy 
house  with  my  booty  ?  There  is  building  to  thee  a 
dwelling  for  myriads  of  years.  .  .  .  The  whole 
world  is  gathering  together  to  dedicate  its  offerings 
to  thee.  I  have  enriched  thy  domain  ;  I  have  sac- 
rificed to  thee  thirty  thousand  oxen,  with  all  the 
scent-bearing  herbs  and  choicest  perfumes.  .  .  . 
I  have  built  for  thee  upon  the  sand,  temples  of 
blocks  of  stone;  and  bringing  obelisks  from  Ele- 
phantina,  I  have  reared  eternal  shafts  in  thy  honor. 
For  thee,  the  great  ships  toss  upon  the  deep ;  they 
bear  to  thee  the  tribute  of  the  nations.  Who  will  say 
that  like  things  have  been  done  at  any  other  time  ? 
Ignominy  to  him  who  resists  thy  designs ;  felicity 


EGYPT  3300  YEABS  AGO.  141 

to  him  who  understands  thee,  oh,  Ammon !  I  in- 
voke thee,  oh,  my  lather !  I  am  in  the  midst  of  a 
throng  of  unknown  tribes,  and  I  am  alone,  before 
thee;  no  one  is  with  me.  My  archers  and  my 
horsemen  deserted  me  when  I  called  aloud  to  them  ; 
not  one  among  them  hearkened  to  me  when  I  cried 
to  them  for  help.  But  I  prefer  Amrnon  to  thou- 
sands of  archers,  to  millions  of  horsemen  and  to 
myriads  of  young  men  arrayed  in  phalanx.  The 
wiles  of  men  are  as  naught ;  Ammon  will  prevail  over 
them.  Oh  Sun  !  have  I  not  obeyed  the  order  of  thy 
lips,  and  thy  counsels  have  they  not  guided  me  ? 
Have  I  not  given  glory  to  thee,  to  the  ends  of  the 
Earth  ?" 

These  words  resounded  in  Hermonthis;  Phra 
comes  to  him  who  calls  upon  him ;  he  stretches 
forth  his  hand  to  him.  Rejoice  and  be  glad  ...  he 
flies  to  thee,  he  flies  to  thee  .  .  .  Barneses  Mei- 
Amoun !  He  says  to  thee,  "Behold,  I  am  near  thee ; 
I  am  thy  father,  the  Sun ;  my  hand  is  with  thee, 
and  I  am  more,  for  thee,  than  millions  of  men  ar- 
rayed together.  It  is  I  who  am  the  lord  of  troops 
and  armies,  loving  courage  ;  I  have  found  thy  heart 
firm  in  valor,  and  my  heart  exults  thereat." 

When  my  master  of  the  horse  saw  that  I  re- 
mained surrounded  by  so  many  chariots,  he  fal- 
tered, and  his  heart  gave  way  for  fear ;  a  mighty 


142  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

terror  seized  on  all  his  limbs.  He  said,  then,  to  his 
Majesty :  "  My  good  master,  generous  King,  sole 
protector  of  Egypt  in  the  day  of  battle,  we  are  tar- 
rying alone  in  the  midst  of  the  foe ;  halt  in  thy 
course  and  let  us  save  the  breath  of  our  lives. 
What  can  we  do,  oh,  Barneses  Meiamoun  !  my 
good  master  ?" 

And  thus  did  his  Majesty  reply  to  his  master  of 
the  horse  : 

"  Have  courage !  strengthen  thy  heart,  oh  my 
comrade  !  I  will  plunge  into  their  midst  like  the 
hawk  from  on  high  darting  down  upon  his  foe ; 
hurled  to  the  ground  and  slain,  they  shall  roll  in 
the  dust.  What  does  thy  heart  then  think  of  these 
Aamus  f  Ammon  ....  would  not  be  a  god,  did 
he  not  make  glorious  my  countenance  in  the  pres- 
ence of  their  countless  legions." 

The  king  pierced  his  way  into  the  army  of  these 
vile  Khetas  ;  six  times  did  he  enter  into  their  midst. 
.  .  .  .  "  I  pursued  them  like  Baal,  in  the  hour  of 
his  might,  and  I  slew  them  so  that  none  could 
escape. 

"I  threw  myself  upon  them,  like  unto  the  god 
Month ;  in  a  moment's  space,  my  hand  mowed 
them  down.  I  slaughtered  among  them  :  I  killed 
in  their  midst,  and  I  was  alone  to  shout  aloud, 
there  was  no  second  word,  not  one  of  them  lifted 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO.  143 

up  his  voice.  Sutekh,  the  -great  warrior-Baal,  was 
in  all  his  members.  .  .  .  Each  one  of  all  my  ene- 
mies felt  his  hand  without  strength  against  mine ; 
they  could  no  longer  hold  the  bow  or  the  spear. 

The  king,  rallying  around  him  the  generals  and 
the  horsemen  of  his  retinue,  said  to  them  :  "  Your 
comrades  have  not  satisfied  my  heart ;  is  there  one 
among  them  who  has  deserved  well  of  my  country  ? 
If  your  lord  had  not  arisen  in  his  might,  all  of  ye 
had  been  lost.  Each  day  .  .  .  .  I  transmit  to  the 
sons  the  honors  of  their  fathers,  and  when  some 
misfortune  falls  upon  Egypt,  ye  abandon  your 

duty I    administer   justice    every    day, 

hearkening  to  every  complaint  that  comes  to  me. 
And  ye !  what  have  ye  accomplished  oh,  my  war- 
riors? Ye  have  remained  in  your  tents  and  in 
your  fortified  camps,  and  ye  gave  no  counsel  to 
my  army.  I  recommended  to  each  of  ye  at  his 
post,  to  take  note  of  the  day  and  the  hour  of  the 
battle,  and  behold,  one  and  all,  ye  have  done  ill ;  not 

one  of  you  arose  to  aid  me  with  his  hand 

I  govern  Egypt  like  my  father,  the  Sun,  and  there 
was  not  found  one  to  take  heed  .  .  .  and  to  fore- 
warn the  land  of  Egypt.  While,  on  this  fortunate 
day,  sacrifices  are  offered  up  in  Thebais,  in  the 
city  of  Ammon,  great  is  the  fault  committed  by  my 
soldiers  and  my  horsemen.  It  is  greater  than  can 


144  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

be  told,  for  if  I  have  made  manifest  my  valor, 
neither  the  archers  nor  the  horsemen  came  with 
me.  The  whole  world  has  made  way  to  the  efforts 
of  my  arm  ;  and  I  was  alone,  and  no  other  one  was 
with  me.  That  is  what,  of  truth,  I  have  done  in 
the  sight  of  my  army." 

When  the  archers  and  the  horsemen  came  in, 
one  after  the  other,  from  their  camps  toward  the 
evening  hour,  they  found  the  whole  region  in  which 
they  were  marching  covered  with  dead  bodies 
bathed  in  their  blood — all  good  warriors  of  Kheta, 
valorous  champions  of  their  prince.  When  day- 
light illuminated  the  land  of  Atesh,  the  foot  could 
not  find  place,  so  numerous  were  the  dead.  Then, 
the  army  went  up  to  glorify  the  names  of  the  king  : 

"  Good  and  mighty  man  of  war,  with  the  heart 
that  cannot  be  shaken,  thou  dost  the  work  of  thine 
archers  and  of  thy  mounted  men!  Son  of  the  god 
Toum,  fashioned  from  his  own  substance,  thou  hast 
wiped  out  the  land  of  Kheta  with  tby  victorious 
falchion!  It  is  thou,  oh  good  warrior!  who  art  the 
lord  of  ar  nies.  There  is  no  king  like  to  thee  who 
does  battle  for  his  soldiers  on  the  day  of  conflict. 
It  is  thou,  oh  king  of  the  great  heart !  who  art  the 
foremost  in  the  strife ;  it  is  thou  who  art  the 
greatest  of  the  brave,  before  thine  army,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  whole  world  risen  up  against 


EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO.  145 

thee.     It  is  thou  who  dost  reign  over  Egypt  and 

chastise  the  barbarian  races The  loins  of 

the  land  of  Kheta  are  thine  forever." 


IX. 

"  HOWEVER,  on  the  next  day,  so  soon  as  it  was 
daylight  on  the  Earth,  Barneses  caused  the  battle 
to  be  joined  afresh,  and  rushed  into  the  combat  like 

a  bull  that  dashes  among  the  geese The 

warriors,  in  their  turn,  went  into  the  fight  like  the 

hawk  darting  upon  his  prey And  the 

king  hurled  flames  into  the  faces  of  his  foes,  like 
the  Sun,  when  he  appears  in  the  morning,  darting 

his  fires  on  the  wicked The  great  lion 

that  walked  beside  his  coursers,  fought  with  him  ; 
rage  filled  all  his  members,  and  whoever  ap- 
proached him  was  overthrown.  The  king  seized 
upon  them  or  slew  them,  so  that  not  one  could  es- 
cape. Hewn  to  pieces  in  front  of  his  horses,  their 
dead  bodies,  extended  on  the  ground,  formed  but 
a  single  heap  of  bleeding  remains."* 

One  circumstance  which  has  frequently  repeated 
itself  in  scenes  of  warfare,  rendered  the  disaster 

*  See  the  Vicomte  de  Rouge  at  the  passage  cited. 


146  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

that  befell  the  army  of  the  confederates  still  more 
decisive.  With  a  river  close  behind  them,  they 
seem  to  have  had  for  their  line  of  retreat  nothing 
but  the  bridge  leading  to  the  city  which  they  had 
wished  to  defend.  Toward  it  the  mam  struggle 
concentrated ;  Mei-Amoun,  guided  by  his  terrible 
military  instinct,  doing  his  utmost  to  force  his  way 
as  far  as  that  bridge,  and  Khetasar,  his  antagonist, 
fighting  desperately  to  cover  its  approaches. 

[  There,  the  forests  of  spears,  the  clouds  of  ar- 
rows, the  shields  and  the  chariots  crossed  and  re- 
crossed  each  other,  and  met  in  the  deadly  shock  of 
battle  with  such  re-echoing  uproar  that  the  Earth 
trembled  to  its  depths,  as  though  Apophis,  the 
great  serpent,  had  broken  away  from  the  chains 
with  which  the  gods  have  fastened  him  to  the 
foundations  of  the  world.* 

There  valiantly  fought,  and  not  ingloriously  fell, 
around  the  chief  commander  of  the  Khetas,  his 
most  faithful  warriors,  such  as  Grabatusa  his 
squire,  and  Khirapsar,  his  librarian  or  rhapsodist  ;t 

*  In  the  Egyptian  mythology,  Apophis,  the  serpent,  is 
the  great  enemy  of  the  Sun  ;  in  several  hypogees  he  is  rep- 
resented as  struggling  against  the  gods  of  the  Amenti,  who 
succeed  in  capturing  and  chaining  him.  See  Champollion's 
Letters  from  Eyypt. 

t    Write)'  of  Books,  says  the  text. 


EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO.  149 

and  his  most  tried  lieutenants,  such  as  Rabsuna, 
chief  of  the  archers,  and  Tarekennas,  general  of 
the  cavalry.  But,  when  Kameses  the  II.  had  hewn  a 
broad  and  bloody  passage  for  himself  to  the  banks  of 
the  river  over  the  bodies  of  these  champions  of  Asia, 
mangled  and  yet  palpitating  beneath  the  wheels 
of  his  chariot,  the  defeat  of  the  confederated  army, 
now  cleft  in  twain  and  without  any  common  rally- 
ing-point,  degenerated  into  a  frightful  rout,  in  which 
death  in  every  form  struck  down  the  fugitives.  Thou- 
sands of  men  fell  under  the  sword,  some  to  rise  no 
more  and  others  to  survive  themselves,  mutilated 
as  they  were  for  life,  by  the  terrible  hooked  chariot- 
scythe.  And  if  the  river  spared  a  few  who,  follow- 
ing Masraim,  the  brother  of  their  king,  succeeded  in 
swimming  across,  it  swallowed  up  a  far  greater 
number  and,  especially  noted  among  them,  "the 
chieftain  of  the  land  of  Tonira,  and  the  prince  of 
the  bad  race  of  the  Khirabs,  who  was  separated 
from  his  warriors  while  flying  before  Icing  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  icater" 

From  the  foot  of  the  walls  to  which  he  had  been 
pushed  back  step  by  step,  all  the  time  fighting, 
Kketasar,  beholding  the  tremendous  disaster  that 
his  gallantry  had  been  unable  to  avert,  resolutely 
took  the  only  course  that  presented  itself  to  him  to 


150  EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO. 

save  his  capital  from  the  consequences  of  an  assault 
that  had  now  become  unavoidable.] 

He  turned  with  his  hands  extended  toward  the 
smiling  sun 

He  sent  forth  to  invoke  the  great  name  of  hid 
Majesty :  "  It  is  thou  who  art  the  Sun,  the  god  of 
the  two  horizons  !  It  is  thou  who  art  Soutukh^kke 
great  conqueror,  the  son  of  heaven ;  Baal  is  in  all 
thy  members.  Terror  is  in  the  land  of  Kheta,  in 
such  wise  that  thy  feet  are  on  her  reins  forever." 

Announcement  was  made  that  a  messenger  had 
presented  himself  bearing  a  writing  addressed  to 
the  great  names  of  Majesty.  .  .  .  May  this  wri- 
ting satisfy  the  heart  of  the  god  Sun,  the  mighty 
Bull,  loving  justice  ;  the  supreme  King  who  him- 
self directs  his  soldiers ;  the  sword  of  terror ;  the 
rampart  of  his  army  on  the  day  of  battle :  the 
King  of  Upper  and  of  Lower  Egypt,  with  the 
mighty  courage  and  the  boundless  ardor;  the  Sun, 
lord  of  justice,  the  chosen  one  of  the  god  Phra,  the 
son  of  the  Sun Rameses  Mei-Amoun.* 

The  slave  says,  addressing  his  Majesty :  "  My 
good  master,  son  of  the  Sun,  since  Amnion  has  ta- 
ken thee  from  out  his  loins  and  has  given  thee  all 
the  countries  united  together,  that  Egypt  and  the 

*  This  series  of  titles  constitutes  the  official  protocol  of 
King  Barneses  II. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.          151 

people  of  Kheta  may  be  slaves  beneath  thy  feet ; 
Phra  has  granted  to  thee,  dominion  over  them. 
Thou  canst  slaughter  thy  slaves ;  they  are  in  thy 
power ;  not  one  of  them  will  contend  against  thee. 
Thou  earnest  yesterday,  and  thou  hast  slain  an  in- 
finite number  of  them ;  thou  comest  to-day, — do 
not  continue  the  slaughter.  .  .  .  We  are  prostrate 
on  the  ground,  ready  to  obey  thy  orders  :  oh  va- 
liant king!  honor  to  the  race  of  warriors!  grant 
to  us  the  breath  of  life."  .... 

Then  his  Majesty  caused  the  chief  leaders  of 
the  army  to  come,  and  gathered  them  together  that 
they  might  hear  the  message  of  the  great  Prince 
of  Kheta  ....  so  as  to  write  an  answer.  They 
said  to  his  Majesty :  "  He  hath  done  well,  he 
throws  his  heart  before  the  supreme  king,  his 
lord ;  he  makes  no  conditions.  .  .  .  He  does  hom- 
age to  thee  to  appease  thy  wrath." 

[The  king  hearkened  to  their  word  and  gave  the 
vanquished  his  assurance  of  pardon  and  clemency  ; 
then,  addressing  himself  to  the  GEris  assembled  in 
a  throng  around  him,  he  added : 

"  Give  yourselves  up  to  rejoicing,  oh  my  com- 
*ides  ;  let  it  ascend  to  heaven  ! 

"  We  have  triumphed  over  the  strangers  by  our 
might ;  we  have  fallen  upon  them  like  lions  and  we 
have  pursued  them  like  hawks.  We  have  crossed 


152  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

their  rivers,  burned  their  fortified  places,  annihilated 
their  guilty  souls.  The  terror  of  my  name  has  ho- 
vered over  them  and  their  hearts  have  been  filled 
with  it. 

"  Rejoice,  then,  oh  my  warriors  ! 

"  I  am  for  the  land  of  Kemi  what  the  God  Month 
has  been.  I  have  done  battle  with  all  the  parts  of 
the  earth.  Aminoii-Ra  has  been  at  my  right  and 
at  my  left  (in  the  battles  ;)  his  mind  has  inspired 
my  own  and  has  prepared  the  downfall  of  my  en- 
emies. Ammon-Ba,  my  father,  has  brought  the 
whole  world  low  beneath  my  feet,  and  I  am  on  the 
throne  forever."] 

Thereupon,  Eameses,  directing  his  march  south- 
ward, returned  peaceably  to  Egypt  with  his  princes 
and  his  army,  leaving  all  the  nation  terrified  at 
his  exploits,  and  the  princes  prostrating  themselves 
before  him,  doing  homage  to  his  countenance. 

"His  Majesty  arrived  in  the  city  of  Eameses 
Mei-Amoun,*  the  great  image  of  Plira,  and  rested 
between  his  royal  double  pylons  with  a  serene  ex- 
istence, like  the  Sun  in  his  double  abode  in  the 
heavens." 

*  Erected  by  the  Asiatic  captives  and  the  Hebrews  be- 
tween the  present  sites  of  Heliopolis  and  Suez  on  the  fresh 
water  canal  which  once  ran,  and,  after  an  interval  of  3000 
years,  is  again  to  run  from  the  Nile  to  the  Bed  Sea. 


EGYPT   3300   YEABS  AGO.  153 


X. 

WHEN,  some  time  after  that  period,  Barneses  led 
back  his  army  to  his  country,  laden  with  the  spoils 
of  the  East,  and  dragging  numberless  captives  in 
its  train ;  when,  having  passed  through  the  cities 
of  the  Delta  and  the  Heptanoinis,  more  as  a  divin- 
ity than  as  a  simple  mortal,  he  came  to  the  great 
temple  of  Thebes,  to  make  in  the  presence  of  all 
Egypt,  the  emphatic  recital  of  winch  we  have  just 
given  the  substance ;  and  then,  in  enumerating,  in 
grand  outlines,  the  palpable  results  of  his  con- 
quests ;  the  roving  tribes  of  the  North  hurled  back 
and  restrained  within  their  native  steppes,  by  the 
sword  or  by  the  faith  of  treaties ;  the  frontieis  of 
the  Empire  pushed  beyond  the  Taurus  and  the 
Tigris  and  covered  by  military  colonies  which,  from 
the  Euxine  to  the  Ocean,  guaranteed  the  fidelity  of 
nations  that  were  vassals  or  hi  tutelage, — he  termi- 
nated, at  last,  with  "  the  tributes  imposed,  their 
weight  in  gold  and  silver ;  the  number  of  weapons 
and  horses  ;  the  quantities  of  ivory  and  of  incense 
for  the  temples;  the  grain  and  other  products 
which  each  subjugated  country  was  to  furnish,  and 
the  aggregate  of  which  equalled  all  the  imposts 
that  tht?  arms  of  the  Parthians  or  Roman  power 


154         EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

have  raised  since  then  !"* — Assuredly,  it  was  a  fine 
day  in  the  life  of  that  man  and  of  his  people,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  price  that  one  and  the 
other  had  paid  for  it ! 

No  doubt  that  in  the  thinned  ranks  of  the  victors 
many  a  vacant  place  summoned  the  tears  of  many 
a  family,  for  fathers,  sons  and  husbands  who  had 
remained  on  the  roads  they  had  traversed.  If  we 
are  to  believe  testimony  quite  unaniinous,t  Rame- 
ses  himself,  as  he  first  re-appeared  upon  his  natal 
soil,  but  narrowly  escaped  the  plottings  of  a  broth- 
er armed  against  his  life,  and  had  to  inflict  condign 
punishment  upon  his  own  flesh  and  blood.  But 
the  broodings  of  domestic  misfortune  and  private 
sorrow  were  lost  in  the  intoxication  of  triumph  and 
the  glory  shared  by  all ;  for  it  is  the  peculiar  qual- 
ity of  great  events  to  draw  closer  the  bonds  of  fel- 
lowship that  unite  communities,  in  rejoicing  as  in 
grief,  and  to  cause  generations  to  sympathize  with 
one  another  athwart  the  lapse  of  time. 

More  than  three  thousand  years  have  gone  since 
these  events,  and  yet  we,  who  know  how  much  each 
of  its  tardy  steps  of  progress  cost  humanity ;  we 
who  have  it  in  our  power  to  connect  with  the  labors 
of  Barneses  and  of  his  companions  their  ultimate 

*  Tacitus  :    Annals,  Book  II.  cL.  60  and  61. 
t  Herodotus,  Diodorus,  Manetho. 


EGYPT   3300  YEARS    AGO.  155 

results,  which  in  their  time  no  one  could  even  con- 
jecture beforehand, — with  their  complete  victories 
over  the  roving  tribes,  the  whole  future  of  the  west- 
ern world  based  upon  agriculture  and  the  rearing 
of  permanent  cities ; — with  their  gigantic  journey- 
ings,  the  enlargement  of  general  views  with  regard 
to  the  world,  and  the  drawing  nearer  together  of 
a  part  of  the  long  dispersed  fragments  of  human 
tradition  ; — well,  we  confess  aloud  that,  far  from 
being  tempted  to  smile  at  the  ingenuous  emphasis 
with  which  these  men  of  the  antique  time  express 
themselves  and  their  infatuated  delight  in  the  in- 
dulgence of  their  own  pride,  we  cannot  remain 
coldly  unsympathetic  with  the  invocation  of  the 
day  that  we  have  mentioned,  however  deeply  hid- 
den it  may  be  in  the  strata  of  history  ;  and  we  feel 
irresistibly  drawn  to  applaud  the  words  of  the  high 
priest  of  Thebes  responding  to  Mei-Amoun  in  the 
name  of  his  God : 

["  May  thy  return  be  joyous ! 

"Thou  hast  pursued,  and  dispersed  the  barbari- 
ans ;  thou  hast  broken  their  bows  and  triumphed 
over  their  leaders.  The  world  has  seen  thee,  at 
my  command,  pierce  the  heart  of  the  accursed  na- 
tions, and  make  free  the  breath  of  those  who  fol- 
lowed thee  under  my  sacred  ensigns;  and  the 


15G  EGYPT    3300   YEAKS   AGO. 

world  has  stood  still  before  thee!  .  .  .  My  mouth 
doth  praise  thee !"] 

"  Thus,"  says  the  bard  Penta-ur,  in  conclusion, 
"  Thus  Rameses,  child  of  the  Sun,  and  friend  of 
Ammon,  seated  himself  upon  his  throne,  like  the 
Sun,  forever,  all  the  nations  of  the  Earth  having 
been  subdued  by  him." 

At  this  point  historical  truth  is  found  to  disagree 
with  the  lyrical  enthusiasm  of  the  poet,  for,  although 
the  achievement  of  Barneses,  the  battle  of  Atesh 
and  the  occupation  of  that  city  terminated  the 
campaign,  they  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  war. 

Numerous  monuments  offer  us  the  pictures  of 
many  other  expeditions  by  Rameses,  and  long  addi- 
tional lists  of  tribes  brought  under  subjection  by 
his  arms.  In  his  campaign  of  the  year  XL,  he  re- 
turned to  attack  and  capture  by  storm  several  for- 
tresses in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  among  them, 
Ascalon,  which  had  again  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  rebels.  It  is  in  this  locality  (Askaluna)  a 
frontier  town,  and  not  at  Pelusium,  that  we  should 
be  tempted  to  place  the  scene  of  the  treason  of 
which  Herodotus  has  left  us  the  legendary  recital. 
In  fine,  it  is  only  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  his 
reign  that  Rameses,  amid  the  pageantries  of  a  pan- 
egyric celebrated  at  Thebes  in  honor  of  Amnion, 
sees  a  solemn  embassy  come  in  from  the  Prince  of 


EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO.  157 

the  Khetas,  soliciting  a  definitive  treaty  of  peace 
from  the  Pharaoh.  Khetasar  then  acknowledged 
himself  the  vassal  and  tributary  of  Barneses,  and 
bound  himself  to  furnish  an  auxiliary  contingent 
whenever  required.  This  treaty,  put  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  national  gods  of  each  contracting 
party,  was  carved  upon  a  memorial  pillar,  and 
exhibited  to  the  gaze  of  all,  in  the  temple  of  Am- 
mon.  Reciprocal  matrimonial  alliances  cemented 
it,  and  Barneses  admitted  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Khetasar  to  his  harem  with  the  rank  of  one  his 
wives. 

"  This  peace  bore  lasting  and  prolific  fruit  for 
Egypt,  where,  for  a  very  long  time,  engraved  in- 
scriptions recalled  the  fact  that  the  tribes  of  Khe- 
ta  and  of  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  a  thing  unheard 
of  until  then,*  had  but  one  heart  to  serve  Barneses 
Mei-Amoun." 

*  See  the  Vicomtc  Em.  de  Rouge's  previously  cited  Me- 
moir 


THE    MONUMENTS    OF 
RAMESES   II. 


THE  MONUMENTS  OF  RAMESES  THE 
GREAT. 


The  Testimony  of  Herodotus,  of  Diodorus,  and  of  the  Bible. — 
Memphis  and  Thebes.— the  Great  Days  of  Royalty. — An  Arte- 
sian Well  in  the  time  of  Barneses. — The  Land  of  Gush. — The 
Spears  of  Ipsamboul. — The  old  Age  of  Barneses. — Skeletons 
of  Oxen  and  Skeletons  of  Kings. — Darius  and  the  Statue  of 
Barneses. 


ALTHOUGH  some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the 
official  hyperboles  of  the  great  bard  Penta-ur,  the 
friend  of  the  master  of  the  world,  it  remains  a  con- 
firmed fact  in  history  that  the  world  had  never  un- 
til then  beheld  power  so  vast  as  that  possessed  by 
Rameses  on  his  triumphal  return  from  his  great 
expedition,  and  that  for  many  generations  afterward 
it  was  not  to  witness  such  another. 

None  of  Mei-Arnoun's  •  successors  attained  the 
distant  boundaries  that  he  had  set  to  his  dominion, 
and  none  of  them  impressed  upon  the  soil  of  Egypt 


162  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

itself  such  deeply  marked  or  such  multiplied  traces 
of  their  passage. 

In  reference  to  this  subject,  Diodorus  relates  that 
"  on  returning  from  his  conquests,  Sesostris  re-en- 
tered the  regions  subject  to  his  sway  with  unaccus- 
tomed pomp,  bringing  in  his  train  a  numberless 
throng  of  captives,  along  with  immense  booty  of 
priceless  value,  a  share  of  which  he  pressed  upon  all 
the  temples  of  Egypt.  That  country  was  also  in- 
debted to  him  for  the  importation  of  many  useful 
inventions. 

"  Having  given  up  war,  he  furloughed  his  army, 
compensating  its  services  the  while,  with  donations 
of  land  ;  but  his  passion  for  renown  allowing  him  no 
rest,  he  devoted  himself  to  numerous  and  magnifi- 
cent undertakings,  intended  at  once  to  glorify  his 
own  name,  and  to  defend,  embellish  and  fertilize 
the  soil  of  his  country.  First,  he  caused  to  be  built 
in  each  city  a  temple  in  honor  of  the  patron  deity 
of  the  place.  In  many  a  locality  he  had  causeways 
and  embankments  constructed  to  shield  the  dwell- 
ings from  the  annual  inundation ;  and,  in  many 
others,  he  dug  canals,  one  of  which  was  intended  to 
open  communication  between  Memphis  and  the 
Red  Sea. 

.  ..."  In  order  to  check  the  incursions  of  the 
predatory  Arabs,  he  moreover  enclosed  the  Isth- 


EGYPT    3300    YEABS    AGO.  163 

mus  from  Pelnsium  to  On  (or  Heliopolis)  with  a 
wall  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  stadii  in  extent. 
In  the  temple  of  the  god  worshipped  at  Thebes,  he 
consecrated  a  vessel  of  cedar  wood  two  hnndred 
and  eighty  cubits  long,  and  plated  it  with  gold  on 
the  outside  and  with  silver  within.  He  had  two 
obelisks  of  very  hard  stone  erected  in  front  of  the 
same  temple,  and  thereon  caused  to  be  engraved 
the  exact  tabular  statistics  of  his  armies,  his  reve- 
nues, the  nations  that  he  had  vanquished  and  the 
tribute  that  he  had  derived  from  them.  Within 
the  precincts  of  the  temple  of  Hephaestus,*  at 
Memphis,  he  placed  his  own  statue  and  that  of  his 
wife,  each  thirty  cubits  in  height  and  hewn  from 
one  solid  block.  The  most  difficult  of  all  these 
works  were  executed  by  the  captives  whom  he  had 
brought  from  foreign  regions,  and  he  took  care  that 
the  lapidary  inscriptions  should  remind  the  reader 
that  no  Egyptian  had  a  hand  in 


H. 

THESE  details,  borrowed  from  many  sources,  no 
doubt,  by  the  historian  of  Stagyra,  agree  with  those 

*  The  Greek  form  of  the  Egyptian  Phtah. 
f  Diodorus,  Book  I.,  chap.  Ivi.  and  Ivii. 


164  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

that  Herodotus  collected  four  centuries  earlier  from 
the  lips  of  the  priests  at  Memphis,  Thebes  and 
Heliopolis,  tJiose  of  tJie  latter  city  being  considered  tlie 
best  informed  of  all  in  tJie  history  of  tlieir  country.* 

Of  the  numerous  monuments  of  Barneses  II. 
some,  such  as  the  Isthmus  wall,  and  the  fortified 
cities  which  he  had  built  by  the  tribes  of  Beni- 
Heber  upon  that  frontier,  have  been  swept  away 
by  the  breath  of  thirty-three  centuries,  or,  like  the 
terraces  which  formed  the  artificial  soil  of  the  an- 
cient cities  along  the  Nile,  have  been  covered  by 
the  miry  deposits  which  the  inundations  annually 
heap  up  ;  others,  like  the  canal  uniting  the  Seaweed 
Lake,  since  then  rediscovered  in  the  days  of  our 
fathers,t  by  the  very  man  who  was  for  them  what 
Barneses  had  been  for  his  contemporaries,  have 
left  vestiges  which  science  interrogates,  sometimes 
with  profit  and  always  with  interest ;  still  others,  yet 
standing  upon  the  desolate  banks  of  the  river  that 
mirrored  their  pristine  splendor,  make  the  modern 

*  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  c.  III. 

f  Ou  the  30th  of  December,  1798,  the  general-in-chief  of 
the  Army  of  the  East,  passing  from  Cairo  to  Suez,  several 
times  crossed  the  vestiges  of  the  old  canal  with  his  escort 
of  learned  men. — Napoleon,  in  his  Memoirs  dictated  at  St. 
Helena.— Description  of  Egypt.- J.  M.  Lepere,  in  his  Me- 
moire  on  the  communication  of  the  Indian  Ocean  with  the 
Mediterranean. 


EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO.  165 

solitudes  participate  in  the  majesty  of  the  ancient 
days ;  and  finally  others  again,  borne  away  to  the 
museums  and  public  places  of  the  great  Western 
capitals,  are  perpetual  sources  of  study  and  medita- 
tion for  thinking  minds. 

It  was  above  all  in  the  two  great  capitals  of  his 
empire,  in  Memphis  and  in  Thebes,  that  the  monu- 
mental splendor  of  Barneses  struck  the  observers 
of  antiquity. 


m. 


THE  first  of  these  cities,  much  more  exposed 
than  its  rival,  to  the  inroads  of  time  and  the  invader, 
alike  by  its  geographical  situation  and  the  material 
of  which  it  was  built,  sleeps  to-day,  completely  bu- 
ried beneath  the  slime  of  the  inundations  and  the 
sands  of  the  desert.  A  few  vague  undulations  of 
the  soil  alone  disturbing  this  double  shroud,  have 
served  to  indicate  the  site  of  monuments  the  ruins 
of  which  were  still,  six  hundred  years  ago,  according 
to  the  statement  of  one  of  the  most  judicious  sons 
of  Islam,  a  subject  of  admiration  and  astonishment 
for  the  observer. 

"Notwithstanding  the  immense  extent  of  Mem- 


166  EGYPT   3300  YEARS  AGO. 

phis  and  its  high  antiquity,"  writes  the  Arab'Ab- 
dallatif  in  the  13th  century  of  our  Era,  "  notwith- 
standing the  vicissitudes  of  the  various  govern- 
ments to  whose  yoke  it  has  submitted;  whatever 
the  attempts  that  different  peoples  have  made  to 
annihilate  it,  to  cause  even  its  faintest  vestiges  to 
disappear  and  wipe  out  the  slightest  traces  of  its 
existence  by  transporting  to  other  points  the 
stones  and  other  materials  of  which  it  was  con- 
structed ;  by  devastating  its  edifices  and  mutilating 
the  statues  that  adorned  them ;  in  fine,  despite  all 
that  the  ages  have  superadded  to  so  many  causes 
of  destruction,  its  ruins  still  present  to  those  who 
contemplate  them  a  combination  of  wonders  that 
confounds  the  intelligence  and  which  the  most  elo- 
quent tongue  or  pen  might  vainly  attempt  to  de- 
scribe.— The  more  one  considers  it  the  more  one 
feels  the  admiration  that  it  inspires  augment ;  and 
every  succeeding  glance  that  one  casts  at  its  ruins 
is  a  new  source  of  enchantment."* 

Memphis  was  especially  proud  of  the  grand  tem- 
ple of  its  eponymic  divinity  Phtah,t  whom  the  rela- 
tions of  Barneses  with  Upper  Asia,  whence  the  wor- 

*  Abdallatif  translated  into  French  by  M.  de  Sacy. 

f  Ph-l-ah—ahi,  agny.  The  most  ancient  divinity  of  Vedio 
days.  The  northern  origin  of  fire-worship  seems  to  us  in- 
disputable. 


EGYPT   3300    YEARS   AGO.  167 

ship  of  this  god  had  descended,  had  taught  him  to 
honor  with  especial  devotion.  Around  this  temple, 
where  all  the  gods  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  seem 
to  have  been  concentrated,  Mei-Amoun  had  caused 
to  be  reared,  in  majestic  colonnades,  immense  blocks 
of  white  calcareous  stone  in  order  to  extract  which 
from  the  quarrries  of  Mokattan  and  transport  them 
to  the  other  side  of  the  Nile,  thousands  of  captives 
had  exhausted  themselves  for  weary  years. 

Moreover,  in  testimony  of  his  gratitude  and  his 
piety,  he  had  caused  the  monolithic  statues  of  his 
wife,  his  children  and  himself,  to  be  placed  before  the 
pylons  of  the  sanctuary,  in  the  attitude  of  religious 
contemplation.  Well !  in  these  palaces  or  temples, 
divinities  and  worshippers  are  plunged  in  the  same 
sleep  and  at  this  day  abandon  to  the  winds  of  the 
desert  the  same  dust ;  and  a  fallen  column  cast  to 
a  distance  from  its  pedestal,  including  which  it 
must  formerly  have  measured  nearly  forty-five  feet 
in  height,  still  surmounts  with  all  the  thickness  of 
its  mutilated  fragments  the  general  level  of  the 
plain — last  relic  of  the  pahny  days  of  Memphis ! 

By  his  warlike  insignia,  by  the  delicacy  of  his 
features,  by  the  name  of  Barneses  engraved  upon 
the  ornaments  on  his  breast  and  on  the  buckle  of 
his  belt,  it  is  impossible  to  mistake  in  him  the  im- 
age of  the  conqueror,  the  same  one  of  whom  Dio- 


168  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

dorus  and  Herodotus  wrote,  and  whom  Abdallatif 
admired. 


IV. 

ONE  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  of  navigation, 
ascending  the  windings  of  the  Nile,  over  the  richest 
soil  and  the  most  densely  inhabited  territory  on 
record  in  all  time,  along  a  double  line  of  towns  and 
cities  led  from  the  city  of  Phtah  to  that  of  Ammon. 

In  latitude  25°  34',  the  Nile,  which,  after  entering 
Egypt,  directs  its  course  between  the  north  and 
the  northwest,  suddenly  doubles  on  itself  and  runs 
for  many  scores  of  miles  toward  the  east-northeast, 
as  though  it  would  break  its  way  through  toward 
the  nearest  sea.  In  this  space,  the  valley  of  the 
river,  scooped  out  in  a  wide  oval  like  an  immense 
amphitheatre  between  its  two  parallel  chains,  pre- 
sents one  of  those  sites  which  seem  predestined  by 
nature  to  receive  great  communities  of  men. 

This  is  the  point  at  which  the  lines  of  traffic 
from  Africa  and  Arabia,  of  the  more  direct  routes  of 
the  Soudan  by  the  Oases,  and  of  the  Habesh  by 
the  Nubian  tablelands,  converge  ;  it  is  the  debouch- 
ing centre  of  the  wadys  that  lead  to  the  Red  Sea, 
and  which  formerly  guided  the  way  to  the  mines  of 
gold,  copper  and  emeralds  in  the  land  of  the  Trog- 


EGYPT   3300  YEAES  AGO.  171 

lodytes  :  it  was  there  that  "  No- Amman  was  seated 
between  the  canals,  having  for  ramparts  the  loaters  of 
waters." 

"  There  this  instructress  of  the  nations  rested  in 
her  strength  upon  Ethiopia  as  also  upon  Egypt, 
and  had  the  sons  of  Libya  and  those  of  Phut  the 
boundless  for  hor  champions."* 

There  her  scattered  members  lie  to-day. 


V. 


WHEN,  coming  up  from  the  North,  the  travellei 
has  reached  the  projecting  angle  of  the  Libyan 
range  which  crosses  the  Theban  plain  upon  that 
side,  he  suddenly  beholds  unrolled  before  him  one 
of  the  grandest  spectacles  that  man  can  gaze  upon 
here  below. 

A  mingled  surface  of  earth  and  sand  nearly  as 
spacious  as  the  modern  area  of  Paris,  traversed  by 
a  river  the  width  of  which  at  its  period  of  lowest 
ebb  is  thrice  that  of  the  Seine  at  St.  Cloud,  and 
rolls  along  its  broad  undulations  beneath  a  blazing 
sky,  its  stream  studded  with  the  shafts  of  columns, 
blocks  of  granite  and  broken  scraps  of  walls  whose 

*  The  prophet  Nahum,  ch.  iii. ,  verses  8  and  9. 


172  EGYPT   3300  YEARS  AGO. 

fallen  fragments  have  formed  hillocks  there,  muti- 
lated colossi,  sphinxes  and  gigantic  rams  nearly  all 
headless  now — emblems  of  the  Kings  and  gods  of 
ancient  times ! 

Four  enormous  massive  groups,  standing  with 
broad  spaces  between  them,  sentinelled  upon  this 
field  of  ruins  and  holding,  as  though  in  a  fasces,  all 
these  rudimentary  or  ornamental  types  of  Egyp- 
tian architecture,  seem  to  have  been,  at  different 
epochs,  the  centres  of  the  antique  metropolis.  Ac- 
cording to  the  names  of  the  wretched  modern 
hamlets  which  seek  shelter  in  their  shadow,  Gour- 
nah  and  Medinet  Abou  are  the  towns  to  the  west 
of  the  river,  going  from  the  north,  and  Karnak  and 
Luxor  are  those  to  the  eastward.  The  first  of 
these  groups  contains  the  commemorative  monu- 
ments erected  to  Barneses  I.  by  Seti  and  to  the  lat- 
ter by  his  glorious  son  ;  the  second,  which  exhibits 
traces  that  go  back  to  Thothmes  III.,  was  rebuilt 
on  a  gigantic  plan  by  Rameses-Hickpun  (haq-an) 
and  was  the  residence  of  the  Pharaohs  of  the  twen- 
tieth dynasty. 

The  principal  edifices  of  Luxor  founded  by  Ho- 
rus  (HoremJieb)  were  finished  by  Mei-Amoun  to 
whom,  for  instance,  are  due  the  two  grand  pylons 
that  look  out  upon  the  Nile,  as  also  the  two  obel- 
isks mentioned  by  Diodorus,  the  smallest  of  which 


EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO.  175 

now  adorns  the  principal  open  square  in  Paris.  In 
fine,  the  structures  of  Karnak,  which  contained 
among  them  the  first  temple  of  the  Egyptian  Em- 
pire, the  revered  sanctuary  of  Ammon-Ea,  date 
from  the  time  of  the  kings  who  expelled  the  Hyc- 
sos.  They  have  retained  the  stamp  of  their  most 
renowned  successors,  and,  above  all,  the  majestic 
mark  of  Seti  and  of  Mei-Amoun. 

To  these  general  elements  of  the  plan  of  Thebes 
must  be  added  the  indescribable  levellings  of 
nameless  temples  and  palaces ;  the  canals  filled 
up ;  the  granite  quays  undermined  by  the  Nile,  or 
crumbling  into  the  sand,  and  the  three  avenues  of 
sphinxes  terminating  in  the  pylons  of  Karnak,  and 
one  of  which  is  no  less  than  half  a  league  in  length. 
Then,  if  the  reader  will  picture  to  himself  the  soil 
of  a  long  series  of  artificial  terraces  between  Gour- 
nah  and  Medinet-Abou, — between  the  river  and  the 
mountain, — which,  in  our  days,  are  flooded  by  each 
overflow,  where  thousands  of  broken  shafts  of 
colonnades,  splinters  of  capitals  and  fragments  of 
monoliths,  and,  finally,  the  two  colossi  once  so  cele- 
brated under  the  name  of  Memnon,  mark  the  site 
of  the  temple  palace  of  Amenoph  III.,  and  of  that 
Kameseum  which  seems  to  have  been  the  favorite 
abode  of  "Mei-Amoun.  If,  moreover,  on  the  western 
side,  one  adds  to  this  sad  picture,  as  a  framework 


176  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

worthy  of  it,  the  precipitous  walls  of  the  Libyan 
chain,  pierced  like  the  sides  of  an  immense  vessel 
with  galleries  on  galleries  where  sleep  the  genera- 
tions who  succeeded  each  other  in  No-Amnion  for 
two  thousand  years,  one  will,  even  then,  have  but  a 
very  imperfect  idea  of  the  mighty  remains  of  that 
city,  as  they  are  seen  from  the  top  of  the  slope 
where  the  sight  of  them  drew  long  continued  plau- 
dits of  surprise  and  admiration  from  the  French 
Army  of  the  East. 


VI. 

"  THEBES,"  says  one  who  was  present  in  that  ar- 
ray, in  the  monumental  folio  in  which  they  have 
recorded  their  impressions,  "  Thebes,  the  foremost 
city  of  the  world  in  the  time  of  Homer,  is  still,  at 
the  present  day,  the  most  surprising.  One  feels  as 
though  he  were  in  a  dream  while  contemplating 
the  immensity  of  its  ruins,  the  vastness  and  majes- 
ty of  its  edifices,  and  the  numberless  remains  of  its 
ancient  magnificence."* 

In  order  to  move,  to  this  degree,  men  whom  un- 
paralleled struggles,  the  loved  study  of  antiquity, 
and  the  recent  conquest  of  Italy  had  saturated  with 

*  Rosicre's  Description  of  Egypt.  —  Ancient  Thebes. 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO.  179 

the  perception  of  the  grand  and  beautiful,  what 
must  not  Thebes  have  been  when  life  animated 
that  vast  body  and  harmonized  all  its  parts  in  one 
imposing  whole  ? 

What  must  not  Thebes  have  been  at  the  period 
when,  sharing  in  the  plenitude  of  glory  and  power 
attained  by  its  chiefs,  this  city  beheld  triumphant 
predatory  expeditions  and  caravans  of  traders 
streaming  in  from  all  points  of  the  horizon,  and 
pouring  the  wealth  of  nations  into  her  lap  ?  in  the 
time  when  the  black  native  of  eastern  Soudan  and 
the  representative  of  the  vanquished  hordes  of 
western  Asia ;  the  Hymiarite  come  from  the  land 
of  incense  and  the  tattooed  Pelasgian  from  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Hellespont ;  the  opulent  merchant  of 
the  Phoenician  coasts ;  the  pearl-fisher  of  the  Erytli- 
rean  seas ;  the  Eotenu  son  of  Asshnr  with  the 
long  trailing  robe,  and  the  humble  Ben-Eber  of 
the  plains  of  Goshen,  met  annually  at  the  foot  of 
Mei-Amoun's  throne  to  lay  the  tribute  of  their 
clans  and  country  there  ?  What  must  not  Thebes 
have  been  when  her  temple-palaces,  built  and  em- 
bellished by  twelve  generations  of  kings,  rivalled 
each  other  in  splendor  and  display ;  had  for  enclo- 
sures fresh  thickets  of  palms  and  mimosas;  be- 
decked themselves  with  parterres  skilfully  designed, 
and  mirrored  in  the  blue  waters  of  spacious  basins 


180  EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO. 

of  marble  or  porphyry,  the  pure  and  severely  simple 
lines  of  their  architecture ;  when,  amid  floods  of 
light  under  the  rays  of  an  unrivalled  sun,  there 
sparkled  to  the  gaze  the  vividly  colored  bas-reliefs 
of  the  granite  pylons,  the  inscriptions  on  rose-tinted 
obelisks,  the  giant  heads  of  sphinxes  and  colossi, 
and  when  each  Egyptian  could  contemplate  in  the 
one  the  grand  pages  of  his  country's  past  history 
and  in  the  other  revere  the  well  known  features  of 
his  ancestors  and  of  the  gods  and  heroes  of  his 
race  ?  No  voice,  to-day,  could  tell  it  all,  no  pencil 
accurately  retrace  it,  and  even  thought,  plunging 
through  the  heaped-up  dust  of  ages,  could  but  catch 
a  glimpse  of  its  vague  and  feeble  image. 


VII. 

MOREOVER,  in  order  not  to  be  drawn  into  grave 
error  in  the  appreciation  of  that  image,  one  must 
divest  himself  of  all  preconceived  ideas  based  upon 
the  plan  of  any  modern  capital.  We  must  not  for- 
get that  the  dead  level  which  now  gauges  society, 
depresses  their  salient  heights  and  elevates  their 
lower  strata,  was  neither  foreseen  nor  even  dreamed 
of  in  the  days  of  Theban  grandeur ;  and  that  from 


Bird's  Eye  View  of  a  Temple-Palace  at  Thebes  (restored  according 
to  the  monuments). 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO.  183 

this  absolute  ignorance  of  the  virtual  conditions  of 
a  future  far  beyond  the  ken  of  that  period,  arose 
the  very  sanction  of  the  social  inequalities  which 
existed  with  that  of  all  the  forms  with  which  the 
sombre  logic  of  the  human  mind  invested  them  in 
the  material  as  well  as  in  the  moral  order. 

The  dwellings  of  men  were,  then,  subjected  to  the 
same  law  that  proclaimed  the  monarch  son  of  tla 
gods,  and  made  the  priesthood  their  inspired  inter- 
preters. Around  consecrated  edifices  built  of  im- 
perishable materials,  cemented  with  the  blood  and 
sweat  of  whole  generations  of  slaves,  were  grouped, 
in  accordance  with  this  law  and  at  intervals  of 
greater  or  less  space  marked  out  by  cultivated 
fields,  the  luxurious  yet  neither  very  grand  nor 
very  lasting  structures  of  the  principal  function- 
aries of  the  empire, — the  brick-built  workshops 
and  stores  of  the  merchant, — the  cabin  of  the  fellah 
made  of  clay  and  reeds,  and  the  mud  hovel  where 
the  sable  captive — sometimes  the  copper-colored 
or  white  one,  as  well,  crouching  on  the  dungheaps 
of  the  animals  entrusted  to  his  care,  dressed  the 
bleeding  cuts  which  the  stick  of  his  master  had  in- 
flicted upon  his  naked  body,  and  then  sought  in 
sleep  a  vision  of  his  native  land  and  his  weeping 
family. 

Naga    and    Meroe,  Babylon    and    Nineveh,  the 


184  EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO. 

primitive  cities  in  the  basin  of  the  Oxus,  the  Indus 
and  the  Ganges ;  at  a  later  period,  the  cities  of 
the  Etruscans,  in  the  West ;  much  later  still,  those 
which  the  Toltecs  and  Aymaras  built  upon  the 
table- lands  of  the  Andes,  and  the  emigrants  from 
India  in  the  forests  of  Hindostan ;  all  the  metro- 
politan marks,  in  fine,  which  men  erected  during 
their  passage  from  the  second  to  the  third  social 
epoch,  were  constructed  upon  this  principle. 


VHI. 

IN  the  time  of  Diodorus,  the  historical  sense  of 
this  grand  Egyptian  period  had  already  been  lost 
to  the  Greeks,  if,  indeed,  the  latter  had  ever  pos- 
sessed it.  The  historian  of  Stagira  has  left  us 
a  description  of  a  monument  in  the  metropolis  of 
the  Pharaohs,  which  had  remained  an  indeciphera- 
ble enigma  until  the  day  when  Champollion  proved 
the  identity  of  that  monument  with  the  Rameseum 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Thebes. 

"At  the  distance  of  ten  stadii  from  the  first 
tombs,  where,  according  to  tradition,  the  Queens  of 
Thebes  are  buried,  there  stood,"  says  Diodorus, 
"  the  tomb  of  Osymandyas.  At  its  entrance  rose 
a  pyl  on  in  marbled  stone  ;  its  breadth  was  two  pic- 


EGYPT  3300   YEAES  AGO.  187 

thrae  and  its  height  forty-five  cubits.  After  having 
passed  it,  one  entered  a  square  peristyle,  each  side 
of  which  measured  four  plethrae.  It  was  not  sus- 
tained by  columns,  but  by  animals  carved  in  solid 
blocks  of  stone  sixteen  cubits  in  height,  and  carved 
in  the  ancient  style.  The  entire  ceiling,  consisting 
of  a  single  stone,  was  studded  with  golden  stars  up- 
on a  field  of  azure.  At  the  end  of  this  peristyle 
there  was  a  second  entrance  and  a  pylon  like  the 
former  one,  but  adorned  with  variegated  carvings  of 
perfect  workmanship.  Beside  this  second  portico 
were  three  statues,  each  chiselled  from  a  single  block 
of  the  hard  and  tinted  stone  of  Syene.  One,  repre- 
senting a  personage  in  a  sitting  posture,  was  the 
largest  of  all  the  statues  in  Egypt.  The  two  others, 
placed  near  his  knees,  one  on  the  right  and  the 
other  on  the  left,  were  those  of  the  mother  and 
the  daughter,  and  did  not  approach  the  first  in  size. 
This  piece  was  not  only  remarkable  for  its  dimen- 
sions, but  it  was  worthy  of  admiration  hi  regard  to 
its  artistic  execution  and  the  nature  of  the  stone, 
which,  notwithstanding  its  vastness,  did  not  reveal 
a  single  crack  or  blemish.  Upon  it  could  be  read 
the  following  inscription  :  /  am  Osymandyas,  King 
of  the  Kings ;  if  any  should  wish  to  know  who  I  am 
and  ivhere  I  repose,  let  him  surpass  one  of  my  works. 
There  was,  also,  another  monolithic  statue  repre- 


188  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

seuting  the  mother  of  this  king  separately.  It 
was  twenty  cubits  in  height,  with  three  diadems  or. 
its  head  to  indicate  that  the  personage  commem- 
orated had  been  the  daughter,  wife  and  mother  of 
kings.  After  the  second  pylon  was  discovered  an- 
other peristyle  more  remarkable  than  the  first.  It 
was  adorned  with  different  sculptures,  figuratively 
illustrating  the  war  that  this  king  had  maintained 
against  the  revolted  Bactrians.  He  had  marched 
against  them  at  the  head  of  four  hundred  thousand 
foot  and  twenty  thousand  horsemen,  after  having 
diviclcd  his  army  into  four  bodies,  commanded  by 
the  princes,  his  sons. 

"  Upon  the  first  wall  of  this  peristyle  Osymandyas 
was  represented  besieging  a  fortress  surrounded  by 
a  river,  exposing  himself  to  the  blows  of  his  ene- 
mies, and  accompanied  by  a  terrible  lion  which 
served  him  as  an  auxiliary  in  his  combats.  Amouy 
those  who  explain  these  carvings,  some  say  that  it 
was  a  real  lion,  tamed,  fed  by  the  king's  own  hand, 
and  taugut  to  accompany  him  while  attacking  and 
pursuing  his  enemies.  Others  maintain  that  this 
king,  who  was  distinguished  above  all  the  rest  for 
his  valor  and  his  strength,  intended  to  sound  his 
own  praises  by  symbolizing  his  qualities  in  the  fig- 
ure of  a  lion.  .  .  .  Finally,  at  the  extremity  of  the 
monument,  there  was,  in  the  midst  of  a  series  of 


EGYPT   3300    YEAR»  AGO.  191 

apartments,  the  second  library  designated  by   the 
inscription  :  The  office  of  the,  soul" 

Volney  had  declared,  as  early  as  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  with  the  intuition  of  genius, 
that  all  these  details  too  clearly  pointed  to  Sesos- 
tris  to  admit  of  any  one  seeing  in  the  name  given 
by  the  Greek  historian  anything  but  the  epithetic 
title  of  that  monarch.  Twenty  years  later,  Chani- 
pollion,  applying  the  description  of  Diodorus  to 
the  ruins  of  the  Bameseum,  put  together  from  its 
fragments,  shattered  as  they  may  be,  the  pretended 
tomb  of  the  Osymandyas.  Excepting  in  dimen- 
sions, exaggerated  as  ever  by  classic  antiquity,  he 
rediscovered  every  particular  :  the  double  pylons ; 
the  court  of  the  colossus ;  the  enormous  fragments  of 
the  latter,  which  formerly  must  have  measured  thir- 
teen yards  in  height ;  the  hall  of  the  caryatides  ;  the 
galleries,  the  colonnades  giving  access  to  the  inte- 
rior apartments,  and  even  the  library  with  its  ultra- 
marine blue  vault  studded  with  golden  stars,  and 
decorated  with  an  astronomical  picture.  Moreover, 
he  was  enabled  to  detect  in  the  mural  paintings,  a 
majestic  concordance  with  the  poem  of  Penta-ur, 
and  to  decipher  in  several  legends  dedicated  to  the 
great  deity  Ammon-Ea,  these  characteristic  words  : 


192  EGYFI-  3300   YEARS  AGO. 

"  the  habitation  of  Kameses  Mei-Amoun  in  the  Oph 
of  Thebes."* 


IX. 

To  the  distant  expeditions  of  her  warriors,  to  her 
communications,  more  or  less  compulsory,  with  the 
other  groups  of  the  human  race,  Egypt  was  indebt- 
ed for  not   only   an    accumulation   of  power   and 
wealth,  but  for  a  more  active  impetus  given  her  to- 
ward the  arts,  trade  and  industry.     M.   de  Rouge, 
whose  authority  we  cannot  too  frequently  invoke  in" 
this  place,  has  shown  that  a  great  intellectual  de- 
velopment, a  sort  of  literary  cycle,  had  been,  as  it 
were,  the  natural  consequence  of  the  glory  of  the 
arms  and  the  extension  of  the  power  of  Egypt  over 
the  world.     Neither  the  poem  nor  the  personality 
of  Penta-ur    is    an  isolated  phenomenon  of  this 
epoch.     Papyri    exhumed    from    the    tombs    con- 
tain  numerous  and  remarkable  fragments  of  that 

*  The  restored  sketches  published  by  the  great  Egyptian 
Commission  puts  it  in  our  power  to  offer  our  readers  differ- 
ent  views  of  this  monument,  the  finest,  perhaps,  of  which 
Thebes  was  so  proud  at  the  period  of  her  greatness,  and  one 
of  the  most  dilapidated  that  her  enclosure  of  ruins  now  con- 


EGYPT   3300  YEARS  AGO.  195 

literature  which  was  in  a  flourishing  condition  at 
the  court  of  the  Pharaohs  more  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred years  before  our  era.  They  have  even  pre- 
served for  us  the  names  of  the  Egyptian  authors  who 
lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Barneses,  or  of  his  immedi- 
ate successors,  and  whose  theological,  philosophical 
historical,  romantic  or  poetical  compositions  prop- 
agated and  multiplied  by  the  bureaux  of  calligra- 
phy, or,  in  other  words,  copying  offices,  of  the  pe- 
riod, were  not  without  their  echoes  among  their 
contemporaries,  nor  without  influence  upon  the 
general  current  of  the  human  mind.  This  rising 
movement  of  intelligence  upon  the  borders  of  the 
Nile  seems  to  correspond  in  time  with  those 
achievements  of  a  similar  nature  that,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Indus  and  the  upper  Ganges,  distinguished 
the  heroic  age  of  the  Aryan  tribes  that  used  the 
Sanscrit  tongue.  From  that  time  forth,  anterior 
Asia  also  undoubtedly  had  her  writers  and  her  art- 
ists. But  Egyptian  domination  ruled  in  this  region 
during  too  long  a  lapse  of  centuries  not  to  leave  the 
imprint  of  the  conquerors  deeply  stamped  upon  its 
manners,  institutions,  and  religious  notions.  Thus, 
the  style  of  the  most  ancient  cuneiform  inscriptions 
difters  but  little  from  that  of  the  carved  hiero- 
glyphics and  the  papyri  of  the  Egyptians.  Still 
more,  a  stele  foiind  among  the  ruins  of  a  Thebau 


196  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

temple,  a  veritable  ex  voto  of  those  remote  times, 
exhibits  to  us  a  sovereign  from  beyond  the  Tigris, 
the  father-in-law  and  vassal  of  a  Pharaoh  of  the 
twentieth  dynasty  sending  a  solemn  embassy  to  his 
son-in-law  to  obtain  the  temporary  cession  or  the 
loan  of  an  Egyptian  idol  of  great  repute  in  order 
that  it  might  exorcise  one  of  his  daughters  who 
was  possessed  of  an  evil  spirit. 

"  Four  centuries  of  intercourse  in  peace  and  war 
had  multiplied  the  intimate  relations  between  the 
Egyptians  and  the  Asiatic  nation.  The  former 
made  journeys  to  Mesopotamia  :  these  were  officers 
sent  by  the  prince  to  govern  the  provinces,  to  su- 
perintend the  stations  established  and  command 
the  garrisons  posted  in  the  fortified  places.  The 
Asiatic  came  to  Egypt,  far  as  it  was,  either  to  con- 
sult the  Egyptian  physicians  whose  learning  was 
already  famous, — the  wizards,  probably,  who  con- 
tended with  Moses, — or  to  carry  on  trade.  The 
metal  cups  found  in  the  ruins  of  Assyria  are  cov- 
ered with  Egyptian  emblems,  and  the  Kings  of  Tyre 
wore  a  diadem  patterned  after  the  pscJient  of  the 
Pharaohs. 

"  We  also  discover  the  influence  of  the  literary 
forms  usual  in  Egypt  among  a  people  whose  first 
steps  excite  a  lively  interest  everywhere.  The 
Bible  shows  us,  at  this  epoch,  the  sous  of  Jacob,  of 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS    AGO.  199 

whom  Divine  protection  had  made  a  new  nation, 
exhausting  their  strength  in  constructing  in  the 
Delta  a  city  to  which  the  holy  book  gives  the  name 
of  Barneses. 

"  Frequently  mentioned  in  our  papyri,  the  place 
there  bears  the  name  of  Barneses  Mei-Amoun,  and 
the  scroll-boxes  (even  a  statue)  of  the  great  con- 
queror have  been  found  among  its  ruins.  Barne- 
ses II.,  then,  was  the  persecutor  of  the  Israelite 
family  whose  increasing  number  became  a  subject 
of  alarm  for  his  policy.  This  king  could  not  ban- 
ish the  remembrance  that,  upon  several  occasions, 
the  wandering  tribes  of  Asia,  filling  up  lower  Egypt 
by  their  incursions,  had  driven  out  the  Pharaohs. 

"It  was  then  that  Moses,  having  been  rescued 
by  the  daughter  of  the  sovereign,  was  reared  in  the 
palace  and  instructed  in  all  the  lore  of  Egypt. 
The  concordance  of  the  periods  of  time,  and  the 
minutiae  of  the  narrative  do  not  leave  room  to  attri- 
bute these  wants  to  any  other  Pharaoh.  Barne- 
ses is  the  only  one  who  by  his  reign  of  sixty-eight 
years  presents  a  sufficient  lapse  of  time  for  the 
long  withdrawal  of  Moses  to  the  deserts  of  Arabia. 
The  book  of  Exodus  informs  us,  in  fact,  that  the 
king  whose  anger  Moses  had  aroused  died  qfter  a 
very  long  time,  and  that  then  only  did  the  prophet 
venture  to  return  to  Egypt 


200  EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO. 

"  Moses,  therefore,  was  reared  in  a  country  which 
had  carried  art  and  industry  to  a  very  high  pitch, 
and  at  a  moment  when  its  literature  shone  with 
more  than  usual  brilliance.  It  is  easy  to  recognize 
in  the  Egyptian  texts,  the  peculiar  turn  of  verses 
and  the  parallelism  of  the  ideas  or  of  the  expres- 
sions which  form  the  special  character  of  Hebrew 
poesy.  The  earliest  sacred  writers  even  have  di- 
rectly borrowed  from  the  priestly  annalists  certain 
expressions  whose  energy  and  beauty  have  long 
been  admired,  and  it  is  no  mean  glory  for  the  poet 
Penta-our  and  for  the  other  men  of  letters  assem- 
bled at  the  court  of  Barneses  Mei-Amoun  to  have 
had  a  considerable  share  in  the  literary  education 
of  the  Hebrew  legislator."* 


X. 

BEFORE  going  farther  we  should  point  out  the 
fact  that  the  cruel  policy  practised  by  Barneses 
toward  the  Hebrews,  was  not  exclusively  his  own. 
It  had  been  that  of  all  his  predecessors.  A  very 
curious  painting  found  at  Thebes,  upon  the  walls  of 
a  burial  chapel  attributed  to  Thothmes  III.,  shows 

*  Viscount  E.  de  Rouge  in  the  paper  already  cited. 


EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO.  203 

us  prisoners  of  war  employed  in  kneading  clay, 
moulding  bricks  and  building  the  walls  of  a  temple 
to  Ammon  under  the  surveillance  of  Egyptian 
superintendents  or  overseers  armed  with  heavy 
staves.  The  inscription  informs  us  that  these 
prisoners  at  hard  labor,  "  are  captives  taken  by  His 
Holiness  to  work  upon  the  temple  of  his  father 
Ammon."  When  copied  by  the  engraver's  art,  does 
not  this  scene  look  like  an  illustration  of  the  fol- 
owing  passage  in  Exodus  :  ch.  i.  v.  xiii.  and  xiv. 

"  And  the  Egyptians  made  the  children  of  Israel 
to  serve  with  rigor :" 

"  And  they  made  their  lives  bitter  with  hard 
bondage,  in  mortar,  and  in  brick,  and  in  all  man- 
ner of  service  in  the  field :  all  their  service,  wherein 
they  made  them  serve,  was  with  rigor." 

History  can  bring  to  the  support  of  the  Biblical 
text  still  more  formal  testimony  than  the  preceding. 
There  are  legible  upon  the  back  of  a  hieratic  papy- 
rus which,  unfortunately,  has  been  very  much  mu- 
tilated, but  which  may  be  referred  to  the  nineteenth 
dynasty,  these  characteristic  lines  :  "  That  for  twelve 
years,  these  men,  entrusted  with  the  making  of 
bricks,  be  kept  and  closely  watched  in  the  work- 
shops, so  as  to  see  that  they  deliver  exactly  the 
number  of  bricks  tha-t  they  are  ordered  to  make, 
ivithout  rest  or  cessation  /"  (A  papyrus  of  the  Anas- 
tasi  Collection  No.  3,  page  3.) 


204  EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO. 

This  working-up  of  the  captive  and  the  slave 
pushed  to  its  farthest  limits,  i.e.  mutilation  and 
death,  was  the  law  of  nations  of  a  historic  age,  which 
did  not  cease  even  with  the  most  civilized  countries 
until  after  tha  advent  and  triumph  of  Christianity  : 
that  law  of  nations,  of  which,  long  after  the  time  of 
Rameses,  the  Assyrian  monarchs,  the  Dorian  Re- 
publics of  Greece  and  the  Roman  patriciate,  were 
to  make  many  another  ferocious  application,  and 
which,  even  while  we  write,  still  entangles,  with  its 
long-surviving  roots,  the  eastern  half  of  modern 
Europe,  and  all  the  countries  yet  under  the  yoke  of 
the  late-comers  of  wandering  barbarism. 


XI. 

AT  Thebes,  as  in  all  the  great  cities  of  the  valley 
of  the  Nile,  the  sacred  edifices  enclosed  within  their 
limits  between  the  pronaos  and  the  sanctuary  of  the 
gods,  a  spacious  hall  which,  owing  to  the  numerous 
columns  supporting  its  massive  ceiling  of  carved  and 
tinted  granite,  received  the  title  of  hypostyle  from 
the  Greeks.  The  one  that  Seti  I.  caused  to  be 
built  in  the  temple  of  Karnak  is  celebrated  among 


EGYPT   3300   YEARS  AGO.  207 

them  all  for  its  dimensions — one  hundred  yards  by 
fifty — and  its  hundred  and  thirty-four  columns  still 
standing,  a  dozen  of  which  sustain  the  central  part 
of  the  ceiling,  at  the  height  of  seventy  feet  from  the 
soil,  upon  capitals  of  twenty  yards  in  circumference. 
The  dimensions  of  these  halls,  even  in  the  absence 
of  other  indications,  would  bear  witness  to  the  pur- 
pose for  which  they  were  destined.  In  the  shadow 
of  these  groves  of  columns,  where  apertures  curious- 
ly cut  in  the  upper  part  of  the  cornice  or  windows 
hewn  through  the  solid  granite  allowed  only  a  sub- 
dued heat  to  penetrate,  and  just  enough  light  to 
illuminate  the  reliefs  and  the  tintings  of  the  great 
mural  scenes,  the  monarch,  seated  on  a  magnificent 
throne,  between  the  mementoes  of  his  ancestors 
and  the  images  of  his  gods,  presided  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  priesthood  and  high  dignitaries  of  the 
empire ;  gave  audience  to  the  ambassadors  of  for- 
eign nations  and  to  deputations  from  vassal  nomes 
and  provinces  ;  adjudged,  as  a  tribunal  of  last  ap- 
peal, the  disputes  of  cities  or  of  individuals ;  listened 
to  the  complaints  of  his  subjects  or  the  outcry  of 
their  need ;  in. fine,  held  the  great  days  of  the  royal 
sway. 

The  scribes,  a  very  busily  employed  race  of 
functionaries,  whose  learned  body  replenished  its 
ranks  from  the  colleges  of  the  priesthood,  took 


208  EGYPT   3300   YEARS   AGO. 

down,  on  the  spot,  the  minutes  of  these  sessions  of 
absolute  power.  Subsequently,  when  the  impor- 
tance of  the  subject  demanded  it,  the  series  of  all 
the  orders  and  of  all  the  administrative  measures 
thereunto  appertaining  was  recapitulated  on  a 
monumental  stele,  destined  to  remind  the  popula- 
tion therein  interested  of  the  vigilance  and  solici- 
tude of  the  prince.  And,  in  sooth,  these  stones  of 
testimony  which  have  survived  until  our  own  time, 
are  not  the  least  instructive  of  the  monuments 
that  will  put  modern  science  in  a  condition  to 
reconstruct  the  genuine  history  of  the  Egyptian 
period,  of  which,  more  faithfully  than  the  others, 
perhaps,  they  represent  the  real  aspect,  the  charac- 
teristic traits  and  the  inner  private  life. 

It  is  with  this  view  that  we  do  not  feel  as  though 
we  could  omit  from  this  study  on  Rameses  and  his 
time,  a  few  passages  from  a  document  of  this  de- 
scription dating  from  the  commencement  of  the 
reign  of  that  prince.  We  borrow  them  from  the 
interpretations  jointly  agreed  upon  by  the  English 
orientalist  Birch,  and  our  learned  compatriot 
M.  Lenormand. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  20 'J 

XII. 

.  .  .  .  "  When  he  had  subdued  the  land  of  Ethio- 
pia, trodden  the  Libyans  beneath  his  sandals,  and 
rooted  his  sceptre  among  them ;  after  terror  had 
overwhelmed  Wentnovvr  and  the  Akars,  the  living 
and  life-bestowing  god,  the  representative  of  Seth 
and  Ammon,  the  king  sun,  the  guardian  of  truth 
approved  by  Phrah,  the  director  and  defender  of 
the  land  of  Kemi,  the  child  of  the  gods,  the  beloved 
one  of  Ammon,  Barneses,  the  eternal  life-giver,  de- 
scended at  Memphis  to  accomplish  toward  the  di- 
vine triad  of  that  city  ceremonies  of  thanksgiving. 

"  On  the  twenty -fourth  day  of  the  month  paoni, 
in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  as  he  was  seated  on 
his  throne  of  the  purest  gold,  and,  with  his  head 
adorned  with  two  ostrich  plumes  emblematic  of 
justice,  was  causing  the  names  of  the  regions  from 
which  gold  was  obtained  to  be  registered  in  his 
presence,  and  was  giving  orders  that  the  roads 
leading  to  them  and  unprovided  with  water  should 
be  supplied  with  fountains,  there  was  mentioned, 
among  others,  the  country  of  Okau  where  gold 
abounded,  but  the  route  to  which  was  utterly  des- 
titute of  springs.  His  Majesty  was  informed  of  the 
distress  of  the  workmen  employed  in  the  extraction 
and  preparatory  washing  of  the  precious  metal, 


210          EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

many  of  whom  had  perished  of  thirst  on  the  way 
with  the  asses  they  drove  thither.  In  fine,  the  con- 
dition of  things  was  such  that  it  could  not  continue 
without  leading  to  the  abandonment  of  the  rich 
placers  in  question. 

"  At  this  moment,  the  officer  of  the  palace  whose 
business  it  was  to  lead  visitors  to  the  foot  of  the 
throne,  breaking  silence,  announced  to  Barneses 
that  the  leading  personages  of  the  Okau  country 
were  present  and  humbly  awaiting  the  favor  of  an 
audience : 

"  Behold  them,  oh  king,  with  their  arms  uplifted 
toward  thy  throne  and  drawing  nigh  with  reverence 
to  look  upon  thy  sacred  features,  in  order  that  they 
may  unfold  to  thee  the  deplorable  condition  of 
their  country,  and  beseech  thy  limitless  power  to 
remedy  it." 

And  permission  to  speak  having  been  accorded 
to  the  chiefs  of  Okau,  they  said : 

"  Thy  power  has  no  bounds ;  it  is  like  the  power 
of  Mandu  and  of  Ammon,  whose  depositary  thou 
art,  here  below  :  if  thou  wert  to  give  orders  to  the 
night,  the  light  would  instantly  appear.  We  come 
then,  in  all  haste,  to  implore  thy  Majesty  to  do 
something  in  behalf  of  these  gold  mines,  since  thou 
art  he  who  dost  shine,  at  present,  on  the  throne  of 
the  world.  Thou  wilt  not  reject  our  prayers,  thou 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO.  211 

who  hast  but  to  say  to  the  mountain  spring  to  leap 
forth,  in  order  to  behold  the  abyss  of  the  waters  of 
the  heavens  fly  open  at  the  sound  of  thy  voice ;  for 
thou  art  the  sun  made  flesh,  all  of  whose  orders  are 
obeyed,  all  of  whose  words  are  made  good,  oh  thou, 
our  lord  and  our  master !...." 

Thus  spake  the  chiefs  of  Okau  ;  then  a  great 
dignitary,  the  second  in  the  empire,  the  viceroy  of 
Ethiopia,  came  forward  to  sustain  their  request 
with  the  weight  of  his  opinion. 

"  It  is  but  too  true,"  said  the  royal  son  of  Gush. 
In  their  country  the  grass  has  been  burned  since 
the  reign  of  the  gods,  and  all  the  Pharaohs,  thy  pre- 
decessors, desired  that  a  well  should  be  dug  on  the 
borders  of  the  road  that  leads  thither,  but  their 
wish  was  in  vain.  At  the  command  of  Seti,  of  glo- 
rious memory,  search  was  made  to  the  depth  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  cubits  for  the  sheet  of  water 
intended  to  refresh  the  soil :  it  did  not  reach  the 
surface.  But  thou,  if  thou  saidst  to  Hapi-Mou, 
thy  father  and  the  father  of  the  gods:  Cause  the 
water  to  cover  the  face  of  the  desert  !  it  would  be  as 
it  is  with  all  thy  words,  all  thy  orders  which  are 
fulfilled  in  thy  very  presence.  If  they  are  instantly 
obeyed  is  it  not  because  thou  art  dear  to  the  gods 
of  thy  ancestors  above  all  the  monarchs  that  have 
reigned  since  the  sun  ?"  .  .  . 


212  EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO. 

To  the  royal  son  of  Gush,  and  to  the  chiefs  of 
the  country  of  Okau,  Barneses  replied :  "  Your 
request  is  just ;  as  you  have  declared,  there  has 
been  no  well  dug  near  this  road  since  the  reign  of 
the  gods ;  and,  it  is  my  will  that  a  well  shall  be 
made  there  to  yield  water  without  ceasing,  as 
though  it  sprang  from  the  exhaustless  bosom  of  the 
Nile.  The  gods  who  heap  their  favors  upon  me, 
and  who  have  flooded  my  heart  with  joy,  will  help 
me  in  this  circumstance.  Under  their  protecting 
auspices,  I  proclaim,  then,  the  order  to  pierce  a  liv- 
ing well  at  one  of  the  intermediate  stations  of  the 
road  that  leads  from  the  Nile  to  Okau.  Let  this 
order,  copied  by  the  scribes  on  duty,  be  reproduced 
and  published  by  the  aid  of  the  chief  of  the  tran- 
scribing bureau,  in  my  double  dwelling  of  light, 
and  let  a  copy  of  the  order  be  sent  to  the  royal  son 
of  my  land  of  Gush,  who  continues  charged  with 
its  execution." 

And  the  prince  of  Nubia,  superintendent  of  the  land 
of  Cush,  having  got  together  the  necessary  work- 
men recommenced  the  task  that  had  been  begun 
during  the  reign  of  Seti,  and  caused  it  to  be  pushed 
with  so  great  activity,  that  nothing  like  it  had  been 
done  since  there  were  kings  in  Egypt.  The  caving 
in  of  the  soil,  and  the  infiltration  of  sand  into  the 
tube  of  the  well,  were  checked  successfully  by  liu- 


EGYPT  3400   YEARS  AGO.  21-'} 

Ings  of  reeds  woven  in  mats  or  interlaced  in  fas- 
cines* and  with  such  excellent  result  that  the  vice- 
roy was  enabled  to  send  word  to  Mei-Amoun 
that  the  water  was  spouting  four  cubits  above  the 
soil,  but  that  to  raise  it  to  twelve,  as  his  Majesty 
had  ordered  with  his  own  lips,  it  was  still  indispens- 
able that  a  skilled  workman  should  be  sent.  .  .  . 
Shortly  afterward  the  sovereign  word  of  Barneses 
had  its  full  effect :  "  The  king  of  the  waters  has 
hearkened  to  the  king  of  the  earth,  the  well  has 
been  fortunately  terminated,  and  abundant  waters 
leap  from  its  mouth  and  pass  on  to  a  distance  to 
fertilize  the  surface  of  the  desert  and  quench  the 
thirst  of  the  parched  traveller."  By  a  last  decree, 
Barneses,  the  friend  of  Ammon,  expressed  the  wish 
that  this  work  of  public  utility  should  bear  his 
name,  and  that  a  stde  commemorative  of  these  acts 
should  be  placed  within  the  enclosure  of  the  tem- 
ple raised  to  Thoth  Trismegistus,  (celestial  superin- 
tendent of  Nubia  for  the  supreme  gods,)  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Nile,  opposite  to  the  city  of 
Pselkis.  And  it  was  there,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
wady .  which  leads  from  the  river  to  the  modern 
cantonal  district  of  Olaki,  that  it  has  been  found 
again  in  our  time. 

*  We  give  this  interpretation  on  our  own  responsibility  ; 
it  seems  to  be  indicated  by  M.  Lenorinand.  As  for  Mr. 
Birch,  the  text  seems  to  him  to  allude  to  aquatic  birds  pl»y- 
'u£  .tinong  +lia  reeds. 


214  EGYPT  3300  YEARS   AGO. 

XIII. 

THE  appellation  of  the  land  of  Gush,  which  in 
the  presence  of  the  encroachments  of  the  yellow  or 
red  branches  of  the  human  main  stem,  had  receded 
from  the  southern  plains  of  Asia  as  far  as  the 
upper  basin  of  the  Nile,  still  ran  down  in  the  days 
of  Mei-Ainoun  from  the  unknown  heights  of  Africa 
as  far  as  the  cataracts  of  Syene,  thus  covering  all 
the  territory  that  the  Greeks  have  since  called 
Ethiopia,  and  the  moderns  Sennaar  and  Nubia. 
The  importance  of  these  provinces  in  the  monarchy 
of  Barneses  was  such  that  the  title  of  their  viceroy 
or  superintendent  seems  to  have  been,  under  sev- 
eral dynasties,  one  of  the  first  that  was  conferred 
upon  the  heir  presumptive  of  the  empire,  at  his 
birth,  and  a  long  partnership  in  common,  of  inter- 
ests and  of  glory,  had  so  bound  them  to  Egypt  that 
Champollion  did  not  fail  to  discover  that  the 
Pharaohs,  full  of  confidence  in  the  natives  of  Ethi- 
opia, gave  up  to  them  all  the  administrative  po- 
sitions even  to  the  command  of  the  troops  of  the 
country.  The  learned  Egyptian  scholar  has  cited 
and  deciphered  in  support  of  his  assertion  a  great 
number  of  inscriptions  still  existing  between  the 
first  and  second  cataract.* 

*  Champollion  the  younger:  Letters  Written  from  Ec/ypt 
and  Nubia. 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO.  215 

Mei-Amoun,  whose  appanage  this  country  ap- 
pears to  have  been  during  the  lifetime  of  his  father 
Seti,  seems  also,  judging  by  the  monuments  with 
which  he  endowed  it,  to  have  retained  a  peculiar 
affection  for  it,  during  the  whole  course  of  his  long,: 
life. 

In  fact,  from  Philae  as  far  as  Mount  Barkal, 
more  than  two  hundred  leagues  from  Thebes  and 
four  hundred  from  the  Mediterranean,  there  are 
few  ruins,  sides  or  subterranean  temples  that  do 
not  retain  some  relic,  the  scrolls  or  even  the  fea- 
tures of  the  great  Barneses. 

It  is  to  the  graphic  arts,  to  pure  archaeology, 
that  the  labor  of  retracing  the  stages  of  this  long 
advance  speciaUy  appertain ;  but  it  is  not  departing 
from  the  limited  circle  of  this  sketch  even,  wherein 
the  effort  is  to  become  inspired  with  the  philosophy 
of  history,  to  cite  those  of  the  localities  the  exami- 
nation of  which  may  prove  profitable  in  pursuing 
the  study  of  ancient  manners  and  institutions. 


XIV. 

AT  Essebouah,  stood  a  temple  palace  the  avenue 
to  which  was  formed  by  a  double  row  of  lions  em- 
blematic of  courage  ever  on  the  alert.  It  termi- 
nated in  two  magnificent  pylons  supported  by  eight 


EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO. 

gigantic  statues  of  Rameses.  A  bas-relief  repre- 
senting the  fourteen  daughters  of  that  monarch 
makes  one  think  that  the  monument  dates  from  an 
advanced  epoch  of  his  reign  and  of  his  life.  More- 
over, it  seems  to  have  been  thrown  down  in  Avan- 
tonness  at  some  period  of  ferocious  reaction  or  bar- 
barian invasion,  and  the  eight  colossi  overturned 
in  the  sand,  remind  us  involuntarily  of  the  Titans 
struck  by  the  bolts  of  Jove* 

In  the  speos  or  subterranean  temple  cut  in  the 
rocks  at  Derr  by  order  of  the  conqueror,  his  image 
is  seen  seated  at  the  farther  end  of  the  sanctuary 
between  those  of  the  three  great  ancestors  of  the 
Egyptian  pantheon :  Phtah,  Ainmon  and  Phra ; 
and  the  legends  on  the  walls  show  the  same  Barn- 
eses taking  part  as  a  divinity  in  the  religious  hom- 
age which  he  offers  as  a  mortal,  a  priest  and  a 
god,  all  in  one. 

At  Ibrim,  which,  under  the  name  of  Primis,  was 
the  landmark  of  the  Roman  empire  at  the  time  of 
its  greatest  extension  toward  the  south,  another 
speos  was  excavated  in  honor  of  Pharaoh  and  un- 
der the  invocation  of  Toth  and  of  Sate,  the  local 
divinities,  through  the  pious  care  of  a  royal  son  of 
Cvsh.  the  same,  no  doubt,  who  is  mentioned  on 


*  Ampere  :  Correspondence  from  Eyy^  <md  Nubin,  Let- 
ter IX. 


EGYPT  3300   YEARS   AOO.  219 

the  side  relative  to  the  well  of  Okau.  On  the 
carved  and  painted  walls  of  the  subterranean  tem- 
ple "  this  same  personage  is  represented  rendering 
his  respectful  homage  to  Barneses,  at  the  head  of 
all  the  functionaries  of  his  government." 

Champollion  has  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  mere  presence  of  the  wife  of  the  Ethiopian 
prince  who  figured  in  this  ceremony  at  the  side  of 
her  husband  and  in  advance  of  all  the  other  func- 
tionaries marks  an  essential  difference  between  the 
civilization  of  Egypt  and  that  of  the  rent  of  the  East.* 
If  the  erudite  French  hierogrammatist  had  substi- 
tuted the  words  tlie  modern  Oriental  world  for  the 
expression  above  given,  he  would  have  kept  closer 
to  the  exact  truth.  What  we  know  of  India  at  the 
epoch  of  the  second  Bama  allows  us  to  dispense 
with  insisting  on  this  point.  Between  the  exquisite 
sentiment  that  revealed  to  the  antique  poet  Valmiki 
the  fresh  and  pure  creation  of  Sita,  and  that  which 
impelled  Barneses  to  rear  directly  beside  the  most 
commemorative  edifice  of  his  life  a  sort  of  votive 
chapel  to  the  Egyptian  Venus  for  the  use  of  the 
Nofre-Ari,  tlie  roycd  spouse  wJiom  he  loved,\  is  there 

*  Champollion  :  Letters  written  from  Egypt  and  Nubia. 

f  This  inscription  is  the  one  on  the  grand  front  "To 
make  u^  for  it,  in  the  dedication  carved  upon  the  architrave, 
in  the  interior  of  the  temple,  at  the  end  of  the  ordinary 


220  EGYPT   3300  YEARS   AGO. 

not  something  like  a  bond  of  simultaneousness  in 
time  or  of  common  origin  ? 

It  will  be  understood  that  we  refer  to  the  speos 
of  Athor  at  Ipsamboul,  tJie  grotto  of  purity  and  of 
love,  the  details  of  which  are  full  of  interest  and 
artistic  charm,  and  where,  from  the  gigantic  front 
excavated  in  the  rock  to  the  ornaments  on  th3  pil- 
lars that  support  the  vault  of  the  three  halls 
scooped  out  in  its  flanks,  and  even  to  the  minutest 
adornments  of  its  chiselled  and  frescoed  walls,  every- 
thing reveals,  as  it  were,  a  tender  and  reverential 
association  of  thought  between  B/ameses  and  the 
fair  companion  of  his  youth;  everything  bears  the 
impress  of  a  feeling  of  harmony  and  conjugal 
equality.* 

When,  in  the  time  of  our  fathers, t  the  celebrated 
traveller  Burckhardt  discovered  the  far;ade  of  this 
monument,  and  measured  its  caryatides  of  thirty-six 
feet  in  height,  he  believed  that  he  had  come  upon 

legend  of  Rameses,  is  read  this  line,  which  discloses  the  tea- 
derness  of  the  Queen  for  Raruases  :  His  royal  spouse  wh) 
loves  him,  Nofre-A  ri,  the  great  mother,  has  constructed  this  rest- 
ing place  in  the  grotto  of  purity.  Ampere,  at  the  place  cited. 

*  Ampere  in  the  place  cited.  The  queen  is  charming,  says 
the  traveler,  and  one  never  grows  weary  of  meeting  every- 
where with  her  likeness,  which  Pharaoh  never  grows  tired  of 
reproducing. 

t  In  1817.  See  the  Voyages  de  Burckhardt.  French 
translation.  Vol.  I. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  223 

the  grandest  thing  that  Egyptian  art  had  created. 
What  then  was  his  astonishment  when,  on  turning 
an  angle  of  this  rocky  cliff,  he  found  himself  con- 
fronting four  colossal  figures  of  double  dimensions, 
cut  out  in  a  second  mountain,  raising  their  fronts 
bound  with  the  pshent,  and  their  huge  shoulders, 
high  above  the  avalanche  of  sand  which  the  wind 
of  Libya  continually  rolls  down  from  the  top  of  the 
stony  wall  of  which  they  form  a  part.  There  the^ 
seemed  to  be  waiting,  amid  the  silence  of  the  desert, 
the  approach  of  some  representative  of  modern  civ- 
ilization who  should  extricate  them  from  the  ob- 
livion in  which  renown  had  let  them  sleep  for  thirty- 
three  centuries. 


XV. 

SINCE  Burckhardt's  adventure,  many  other  vis- 
itors have  reached  the  spot,  and  the  great  temple 
of  Ipsamboul  ha*,  become  the  goal  of  the  numerous 
tourists  which  Europe  daily  sends  to  the  banks  of 
the  Nile.  In  the  four  stone  giants,  which  have 
none  like  them  in  the  world  excepting  the  two 
colossi  of  Bamian  that,  from  an  unknown  date  in 
the  past,  have  recalled  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Paro- 
pamisus  the  nameless  features  of  a£tn?and£tMMi  of 


224:  EGYPT  3300   YEARS  AGO 

the  South,*  have  been  recognized,  even  previous  to 
any  aid  through  the  interpretation  of  the  scroll 
cases,  the  pure  and  delicate  graciousness  and  the 
majestic  placidity  that  characterize  all  the  portraits 
of  Barneses  Mei-Amoun.  The  portico  of  the  speos, 
when  cleared  of  the  sand  of  ages  which  had  ob- 
structed it,  yielded  to  the  study  and  the  admiration 
of  the  explorers  a  whole  historical  museum  of  which 
Barneses  is  the  hero.  Sixteen  halls  carved  out  in 
the  flanks  of  the  mountain  by  the  chisels  of  the  old 
Egyptian  sculptors,  are  dedicated  only  to  reproduce 
his  deeds  and  to  glorify  his  memory.  Upon  their 
walls  he  battles  and  triumphs  as  a  warrior,  sits  en- 
throned and  wields  the  sceptre  as  a  king,  and 
officiates  as  a  pontiff.  His  statues,  erect,  with 
their  arms  crossed  upon  their  breasts,  supply  the 
place  of  pillars  to  prop  up  the  mountain  ;  then,  he 
sits  in  the  sanctuary  between  Ammon,  the  supreme 
divinity,  and  Phrah,  the  Sun  made  a  deity. 

How  long  did  the  members  of  this  strange  triad 
assemble  the  same  worshippers,  receive  the  same 
incense?  For  two  thousand  years  past,  Ammon 
utters  no  more  oracles,  the  Sun  has  ceased  to  be 
the  eternal  source  of  life  even  for  the  black  Nubian, 
and  the  echoes  of  the  Nile  have  forgotten  even  the 
name  of  Barneses.  However,  to  this  hour,  when 

*  Alex.  Burnos  :     Journey  to  Samarcand. 


peos  of  Pkra  at  Ipsaiuuoul  (fm/udc  restoretl). 


EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO.  227 

the  star  of  day,  emerging  from  the  horizon  of 
Arabia,  darts  its  morning  ray  athwart  the  narrow 
portico  of  the  great  speos  of  Ipsamboul,  and  sur- 
rounds the  mutilated  brows  of  the  three  antique 
idols  with  a  fleeting  halo,  it  still  seems  to  the  most 
indifferent  passer-by,  the  coldest  and  most  skeptical 
son  of  mocking  Europe,  as  though  some  religious 
mystery  were  occurring  in  the  recesses  of  the  rock.* 
What,  then,  must  have  been  the  effect  upon  the 
imagination  in  those  periods  of  implicit  belief  or 
credulous  ignorance,  of  this  daily  phenomenon, 
skillfully  managed  by  the  priesthood  of  the  speos, 
when  immediately  opposite  to  the  latter,  a  con- 
siderable centre  of  population,  culture  and  com- 
merce covered  the  Eastern  bank  of  the  river  now 
so  desolate?  It  appears  that  at  the  time  of  the 
social  upheaving  directed  by  Moses,  which,  not  long 
after  Mei-Amoun's  day,  compeDed  the  Pharaohs 
and  their  court,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Hycsos,  to 
seek  an  asylum  in  Nubia,  that  hospitable  country 
could  not  offer  them  a  retreat  better  calculated  than 
this  to  fortify  their  resolution  afresh.  In  what 

*  Ampere,  place  already  cited.  See  in  the  works  of  Fon- 
tenelle  what  he  states,  on  the  authority  of  Rnffin,  in  reference 
to  an  opening  made  by  the  priests  in  the  temple  of  Serapis, 
through  which,  at  a  certain  moment,  a  ray  of  the  sun  fell 
upon  the  lips  of  the  god. 


228  EGYPT   3300  YEARS  AGO. 

school  could  the  orphaned  and  banished  heir  of  the 
sceptre  of  Barneses,  the  young  Haq-an  who,  after- 
ward, was  Barneses  III.,*  wishing  to  become 
inspired  with  the  soul  of  his  great-grandfather  so 
as  to  resume  and  consolidate  his  work,  have  drawn 
loftier  lessons  than  those  which  exhaled  for  him 
from  the  subterranean  temples  of  Ipsamboul  ? 


XVI. 

The  ages  and  barbarism  have  so  well  respected 
the  bas-relief  pictures  of  the  great  temple,  and  their 
colors  are  still  so  fresh,  that,  according  to  the  in- 
genuous expression  of  the  Arabs,  one  would  think 
that  the  workmen  employed  had  hardly  had  time 
to  wash  their  hands  since  they  were  completed.! 

All  these  marvels  of  Egyptian  art  at  the  height 
of  its  splendor  offer  material  for  study  the  more 
precious  that  the  most  of  it  evidently  dates  back  to 
an  epoch  in  the  life  of  Barneses,  concerning  which 
the  historians  of  antiquity  knew  as  little  as  they 
did  of  the  monuments  that  are  now  engaging  our 
attention. 

*  Manetho,  in  Joseplius  contra  Appionem. — It  is  evident 
tliat  the  Cetlios  of  this  fragment  is  indeed  Rnmeses  III.» 
son  of  Seti  II.,  son  of  Menq>htali,  son  of  Rnmeses  the 
Great. 

t  Ampere,  place  cited. 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  231 

According  to  the  legendary  opinion  followed  by 
Herodotus,  Diodortis  and  Josephus,  Barneses  II. 
from  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign  had  closed  his 
career  of  battle  and  conquest,  and  the  friendly  fates 
had  imposed  no  other  care  upon  him  than  to  enjoy 
in  peace  the  fruit  of  his  youthful  exploits.  The 
walls  of  Ipsamboul,  on  the  contrary,  along  with  the 
inscriptions  that  we  have  been  enabled  to  put  to- 
gether among  the  ruins  of  the  two  Bameseums  of 
Thebes,  the  most  dilapidated  of  all  the  great  king's 
monuments,  and,  also,  one  of  the  bas-reliefs  of 
Beit-el-  Wally,  show  him  to  us  in  his  riper  years, 
surrounded  by  numerous  sons,  and  in  their  company 
fighting  the  same  enemies  against  whom  he  had 
directed  the  expeditions  of  his  youth,  viz.,  the  black 
tribes  of  the  South  and  the  white  or  yellow  hordes 
of  the  North. 

The  picture  of  the  grand  hall  of  Ipsamboul,  in- 
scribed by  ChampoUion  under  No.  1,  offers,  in  this 
respect,  along  with  that  which  the  same  learned 
antiquarian  copied  from  the  half  crumbled  pylon  of 
the  western  Bameseum,  such  analogies  of  detail, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  considering  the  one  a 
reproduction  of  the  other.  In  both  of  them,  Barn- 
eses, accompanied  by  three  of  his  sons,  already  men 
grown  and  mounted  like  himself  in  war  chariots,  is 
pursuing,  at  headlong  speed,  a  hostile  army  whose 


2J2  EGYPT   3300   YEAKS  AGO. 

heavy  garments  covered  with  mantles,  hair  gathered 
up  in  a  single  lock  in  the  middle  of  the  cranium, 
and  pallid  complexion,  would  indicate  their  origin 
to  ba  from  beyond  the  Oxus,  even  did  the  legends 
of  these  historic  pages  fail  to  give  them  the  name 
of  Khetcis.  At  Thebes,  as  at  Ipsamboul,  these  ob- 
stinate antagonists  of  Barneses  are  seen  seeking 
refuge  in  a  fortified  place,  the  walls  of  which  four 
Egyptian  princes,  other  sons  of  the  conqueror,  have 
just  assailed.  We  know  not  whether  the  name  of 
the  besieged  town  has  been  discovered  at  Ipsamboul, 
only  the  last  half  of  it  having  been  preserved  among 
the  ruins  of  the  Theban  monument.  But  that  termi- 
nation is  quite  significant,  for  it  reads  :  apur^  and 
this  Sanscrit  ending  alone  indicates  some  locality 
far  to  the  Eastward. 


XVII. 

Ir  has  not  been  allotted,  so  far  as  we  know,  to 
men  who  have  been  summoned  to  make  themselves 
felt  in  the  world  on  the  eve  of  great  upheavals  in 
the  social  strata  or  in  the  human  mind,  to  find  re- 
pose anywhere  but  in  the  tomb.  Everything, 
therefore,  induces  us  to  believe  that,  contrary  to  the 
assertions  of  the  ancients,  Barneses  must  have 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  235 

passed  the  long  years  of  his  reign  struggling,  sword 
in  hand,  to  maintain  outside,  the  eminent  influence 
of  his  name  and  the  completeness  of  hi^  conquests. 
More  than  once,  no  doubt,  he  was  obliged,  as 
Charlemagne  was,  in  long  after  ages,  to  hasten,  in 
his  grey  hairs,  from  his  Southern  frontiers,  still 
threatened,  as  they  were,  by  the  savage  barbarism 
of  the  Nahazis,  to  those  of  the  North  which  were 
still  agitated  by  the  movements  of  the  Aryan  com- 
munities pushing  the  Samites  and  the  Pelasgians 
before  them  on  all  the  routes  of  the  West.  More 
fortunate  than  the  son  of  Pepin,  was  he  spared  the 
sight  of  the  tempests  that  were  to  sweep  away  the 
dynasty  that  had  been  the  labor  of  his  life  ?  And 
if  his  iron  constitution  secured  him  the  honor  so 
coveted  by  the  Pharaohs,  of  twice  celebrating  the 
trentenary  panegyric  of  his  coronation,  could  he  in 
this  enjoyment  of  his  old  age  carry  his  sceptre  and 
his  harp  as  high  as  the  level  of  his  pride  ?  No  one 
can  tell.  History  and  the  monuments  are  silent  on 
this  score.  The  first  accords  to  him  a  reign  of 
from  sixty-six  to  sixty-eight  years,  but  dating  from 
the  sixty-second,  the  monuments  preserve  a  mourn- 
ful silence  in  reference  to  this  great  name.* 

*  The  latest  date  foaud  at  Ipsainboul  is  of  the  38th  year. 
The  rocks  of  Silsilis  mention  the  40th  and  the  44th  ;  the 
walls  of  the  Serapeutn  the  55th.  Finally,  a  stele  in  the  Flor- 
ence Museum  is  dated  in  the  t>2d. 


236  EGYPT    3300   YEAES   AGO. 

Like  the  patriarchs  his  contemporaries,  Rameses 
saw  a  numerous  family  born  and  reared  around 
him.  The  monumental  inscriptions  have  acquaint- 
ed us  with  the  names  of  twenty-three  princes,  his 
sons,  and  thirteen  of  his  daughters,  of  whom  five 
are  dignified  with  the  title  of  queens.  One,  with  a 
name  anything  but  full  of  euphony  for  our  ears — 
Baunt-Ant — seems  to  have  been  the  female  Ben- 
jamin of  his  declining  years. 

But  he  also  lived  to  see  most  of  his  children  die 
one  by  one,  around  him,  including  all  of  his  sons 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  struggles,  the  combats, 
and  the  triumphs  of  his  riper  age.  He  survived  by 
thirteen  years  the  man  who,  among  all  the  rest,  he 
and  his  subjects  regarded  as  the  most  worthy  to 
succeed  him,  viz.,  the  prince  Sha-em-Jom,  and,  at 
last,  he  had  to  leave  his  sceptre  in  feeble  hands. 
Then,  as  the  good  king  Priam  was  mad3  to  feel  in 
later  years,  he  had  to  admit  that  a  lengthy  lineage 
is  not  always  a  guarantee  of  good  fortune  and  sta- 
bility ;  that  old  age  is  rarely  a  blessing,  and  that 
those  whom  the  gods  love,  die  young.* 

The  prince  Sha-em-Jom,  so  popular  among  his 
contemporaries,  and  of  whom  Egypt,  during  the 
troubled  reign  of  his  brother  Menephtah  doubly 
felt  the  loss,  has  left  tokens  of  remembrance  on  a 

7 

*  Homer's  Iliad,  ch.  24.  and  Meuander's  Fragmmib. 


EGYPT   3300    YEABS   AGO.  237 

great  number  of  monuments,  particularly  at  Mem- 
phis, of  which  he  was  governor  or  viceroy.  The 
lapidary  inscriptions  show  him  to  us  presiding  in 
this  character  from  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  father's 
reign  over  the  grand  panegyrics  which  were  cele- 
brated every  four  years  in  honor  of  the  god  Phtah. 

The  French  savant  M.  Mariette,  to  whom  we  are 
indebted  for  an  interpretation  of  these  inscriptions, 
has  found  a  great  number  of  others  dedicated  to 
the  same  prince,  in  the  recesses  of  the  Serapeum  of 
Memphis,  that  strange  necropolis  peopled  with 
statues  of  Apis  or  sacred  bulls  whose  epitaphs  have 
enabled  that  indefatigable  reader  of  inscriptions  to 
regulate,  by  genuine  figures,  the  hypothetical  dates 
of  a  quite  important  portion  of  Egyptian  chrono- 
logy, and  to  bring  the  undeniable  testimony  of  these 
humble  four-footed  creatures  to  bear  in  proving  or 
disproving  the  existence  of  royal  dynasties  and 
monarchs  claiming  to  be  the  children  of  gods. 

According  to  all  appearances,  Sha-em-Jom  was 
buried  in  the  Serapeum,  where,  after  the  lapse  of 
thirty-three  centuries,  M.  Mariette  thinks  that  he 
has  discovered  his  mummified  remains.  We  can 
do  no  better  than  to  transcribe  in  this  place  the 
exact  language  of  the  report  on  the  subject  which 
that  celebrated  expert  has  addressed  to  his  Euro- 
pean brethren : 


238 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 


"  Three  of  the  five  Apis  that  died  during  tlie 
reign  of  Barneses  II.  were  buried  in  chambers  No. 
2,  3  and  4  of  the  small  subterranean  excavations. 
The  other  two  had  been  deposited  in  one  hollow 
chamber,  the  wall  of  which  bears  the  date  of  the 
year  55  of  the  great  king.  One  died  when  the 
prince  Meuephtah,  who  at  a  later  period  was  to 
succeed  his  father  Rameses  II.,  had  taken  the  place 
of  Sha-em-Jom  in  the  government  of  Memphis, 
and  from  the  position  of  the  mummy,  I  do  not  think 


A  mummy  in  its  bandages. 

that  it  is  to  this  Apis  that  the  date  written  on  the 
wall  refers.  Consequently,  the  other  died  in  the 
year  55,  and  this  observation  is  interesting  if,  as 
may  be  the  case,  the  mummy  of  which  I  have  re- 
covered the  remains,  instead  of  being  that  of  Apis 
was  that  of  prince  Sha-em-Jom  himself.  This 
new  point  would  be  worth  extended  explanation. 
Let  the  reader  imagine  a  mummy  in  the  human 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 


239 


form   destroyed  in  all  its    lower  parts  from  the 
breast  downward.     A  thick  mask  of  gold  now  at 


Case  containing  a  mummy. 


Interior  coffin  to  contain  the  case. 

the  Louvre  covered  its  face.  Around  the  neck 
were  two  chains,  also  of  gold,  to  one  of  which  wove 
suspended  three  amulets.  As  for  the  interior,  it 


240 


EGYPF   3300   YEAKS  AGO. 


presented  nothing  but  a  mass  of  odoriferous  bitumen 
mingled  with  shapeless  bones,  in  the  midst  of  which  were 
buried  two  or  three  pieces  of  jewelry  with  golden  clasps 
containing  small  plates  of  glass.  Finally,  near  this 
singular  monument,  I  picked  up  a  large  beetle  in 
greyish  steatite,  a  little  pillar  of  green  feldspar  and 
a  score  of  small  funereal  statues  of  the  human  form. 


Exterior  coffin. 

Such  was  our  Apis,  and  some  estimate  of  the  em- 
barrassment this  discovery  occasioned  us  may  be 
had  when  it  is  furthermore  known  that  while  all  the 
monuments  found  above  the  mummy  indicate  the 
title  and  name  of  Sha-em-Jom  only,  all  those  on 
the  contrary  that  were  discovered  in  the  neighbor- 


EGYPT  3300  YEAKS  AGO. 


241 


hood  mention  the  name  and  usual  qualifications  of 
Osorapis.  Is  this  an  Apis?  or  is  it  the  mummy  of 
Sha-em-Join,  who,  dying  in  the  55th  year  of  his 
father's  reign,  made  it  a  point  to  be  buried  in  the 
finest  of  the  tombs  that  adorned  the  cemetery  of 
the  city  of  which  he  was  the  governor,  therein  fol- 


Sarcophagus.* 

lowing  the  example  of  the  other  grandees  of  Egypt, 
who  had  themselves  buried  at  Abydos  near  the 
tomb  of  Osiris  ?" 

To  sum  up,  was  this  funereal  windfall,  this  de- 
cayed magma,  the  remains  of  the  beloved  son  of 
Barneses,  of  the  selected  heir  of  his  vast  empire,  or 

*  These  sarcophagi  ill  porphyry,  in  basalt  or  in  alabaster, 
formed  the  fourth  and  last  outside  covering  of  mummies  of 
high  rank. 


242  EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 

simply  those  of  a  bull  fattened  in  a  sacerdotal  stall  ? 
Is  there  not  in  the  doubt  itself,  a  keen  satire  on 
renown  and  death,  as  bitter  as  any  that  history 
has  ever  gathered  in  the  tomb  ? 

We  have  elsewhere  remarked  the  relations  that 
'exist  between  the  duration  of  the  reigns  of  the 
Pharaohs  and  the  splendor  of  their  tombs.  That 
of  Barneses  should,  consequently,  have  surpassed 
all  the  rest  in  -magnificence.  It  was  the  third  to 
the  right  in  the  valley  of  tombs.  At  the  present 
day  nothing  remains  of  it  but  a  mass  of  shapeless 
ruins.  All  the  funereal  abodes  of  the  holy  mountain  of 
the  West  having  been  violated  and  overturned  by 
the  Persians  at  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Cam- 
byses,  those  barbarian  conquerors  wreaked  their 
revenge  particularly  on  the  tomb  of  the  man  in 
whom  was  incarnated  the  Egyptian  nationality  in 
its  struggles  against  the  men  of  the  North,  justly  re- 
garded by  these  barbarians  as  their  ancestors. 
However,  long  before  this  period  of  warlike  ven- 
geance, the  priestly  reaction  which  had  put  an  end 
to  the  dynasty  of  Barneses  and  his  successors ; 
which  had  identified  the  patron  deity  of  this  mar- 
tial family  withTyphon,  the  genius  of  evil;  which 
had  pursued  the  images  of  Sethos  even  to  where 
they  were  found  on  the  scroll-box  of  the  great  king, 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO.  243 

— had  this  reaction  really  respected  his  memory 
and  his  coffin ! 


XVIII. 

WHATEVER  may  have  been  the  causes  of  the 
revolution  that  wrested  from  the  descendants  of 
Rameses  the  sceptre  of  Egypt  and  transferred  it  to 
the  family  of  the  priest  Peor,  it  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  a  reassertion  of  human  dignity,  outraged 
by  the  unbounded  haughtiness  of  the  Pharaohs  of 
the  eighteenth,  nineteenth  and  twentieth  dynasties. 
A  mere  shifting  from  one  set  of  hands  to  another 
of  privileges  and  vices,  it  momentarily  profited  the 
priestly  order  only  to  the  detriment  of  the  vital 
forces  of  the  nation  whose  decline  and  downfall  it 
hastened.  A  people  can  never  with  impunity  be 
taught  to  contemn  what  once  they  worshipped. 
Under  the  anathema  which  fell  upon  her  military 
spirit  and  warlike  energy,  Egypt  sank  back  upon 
herself  like  her  granite  sphinxes  crouching  near 
the  entrance  of  her  temples.  Thenceforth,  concen- 
trating in  the  adoration  of  natural  phenomena,  an 
activity  which  had  no  other  outlet,  she  strove  to 
connect  with  the  subtleties  of  nascent  inetaphysi- 


244  EGYPT  3300  YEAES  AGO. 

cal  science,  the  rude  conceptions  of  her  original 
mythology,  and  made  everything  else  subservient 
to  this  vain  toil ;  men  and  things,  principles  and 
facts,  art,  industry  and  intelligence  alike.  With  her 
everything  passed  into  the  condition  of  a  symbol, 
and  every  symbol  became  stone,  until,  petrified  her- 
self like  the  objects  of  her  idolatry,  she  did  not  no- 
tice the  billows  of  the  human  race  that  were  flood- 
ing up  around  her. 

Even  then,  upon  that  soil  struck  with  a  paralysis 
which  lingers  there  still,  one  grand  memory  alor.e 
survived  and  covered  this  corpse  of  a  nation  with 
the  name  of  Barneses  as  with  a  protecting  aegis. 
One  day  Darius,  entering  Memphis  as  its  master, 
penetrated  to  the  temple  of  Phtah  and  gave  orders 
that  his  own  statue  should  be  placed  in  front  of 
those  of  the  native  kings,  and  even  of  the  colossal 
figure  of  Barneses  Mei-Amoun.  But,  upon  hearing 
this  order  of  the  victorious  monarch,  the  prophet 
of  the  temple  opposed  it  in  these  terms  :  "  Thou 
hast  not  done,  oh  king,  ah1  that  Barneses  did,  since 
the  latter  not  only  subdued  as  many  nations  as 
thou,  but  he  also  conquered  the  Scythians  whom 
thy  Persians  could  not  overcome.  It  is  not  just, 
therefore,  that  thine  image  should  be  placed  above 
that  of  Barneses,  since  thou  hast  not  surpassed  him 
by  thy  deeds." 


EGYPT  3300  YEARS  AGO. 


245 


At  the  words  of  this  aged  priest,  inspired  with 
a  patriotic  remembrance  as  though  bj  fhe  breath 
of  his  god,  Darius,  the  undisputed  sovereign  of 
twenty  satrapies  whose  chiefs  had  kings  for  vassals, 
bowed  his  head  in  silence  and  abandoned  his 
haughty  design. 


lioyal  cartonche  of 
Kaineses   Mei-Amouo. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  CUSHTTES,  (page  15.) 

....  THE  Coptic  idiom,  a  remnant  of  the  old  Egyptian 
tongue,  is  incontestably  one  of  the  most  curious  although 
one  of  the  most  meagre  fragments  of  the  languages  of  an- 
tiquity. An  original  kinship  with  the  Somitic  idioms  htm 
been  discovered  for  it ;  since  the  Semitic  dialects  have  pen- 
etrated the  old  Cushite  foundation  of  human  tongues 

Although  the  Coptic  is  the  antipodes  of  the  Sanscrit, 
a  thousand  reasons  seem  to  conspire  to  make  us  look  in  the 
basin  of  the  Indus  for  the  seat  of  primitive  civilization 
transported  to  the  valley  of  the  Nile  at  an  epoch  preceding 
the  time  when  Southern  Asia  was  wrested  from  the  Cushites 
by  the  Aryan  and  Semitic  races.  If  we  find  in  the  popular 
forms  of  worship  of  India  the  contrast  between  which  and 
the  religious  notions  of  the  Vedas  is  so  marked,  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  creeds  of  Egypt,  is  there  any  reason  to 
feel  surprised  when  we  discover  some  words  in  Coptic 
that  have  an  equivalent  in  the  Sanscrit  ?  There  is  one 
thing  that  must  never  be  lost  sight  of,  in  any  inquiry  relative 
to  those  distant  times.  It  is  absurd  to  say :  this  is  of  Indian 
and  that  of  Egyptian  origin,  for  the  influences  that  shai>ed 
them  have  followed  the  tide  of  migration. 

Thus,  even  while  admitting  (he  influence  of  the  Ariau  and 


250  APPENDIX. 

Semitic  creeds  upon  the  forms  of  Egyptian  worship,  we  can- 
not avoid  recognizing  in  certain  portions  of  the  Vedas 
a  character  common  to  the  religion  of  Egypt.  The  cause 
of  these  coincidences  must  be  sought  in  the  primitive 
extension  of  the  race  of  Gush  and  of  Shem  in  the 
regions  lying  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Aryan 
tribes.  (Baron  Eckstein,  Researches  wrjcerning  Prim- 
itive Humanity.) 


n. 

THE  TEMFLE  OF  DENDEKAH,  (p.  29.) 

THE  great  celebrity  conferred  on  this  monument  since  the 
French  expedition  of  1798,  is  associated  with  an  archaeologi- 
cal error  respecting  the  date  of  a  planisphere  carved  on  th'J 
ceiling  of  the  temple,  and  with  the  fantastic  speculations  ot' 
Dupuis  and  his  school  on  this  pretended  relic  of  antiquity. 
Nevertheless,  the  ruins  of  Tentyris,  of  which  the  wretchel 
village  of  Denderah  retains  the  name  with  its  Arabic  modifi- 
cation, have  in  themselves  a  real  interest,  principally  owing 
to  the  state  of  preservation  in  which  the  temple  is  found. 

But,  if  this  temple  be  one  of  the  best  preserved  in  Egypt, 
it  is  also  one  of  the  most  recent.  Commenced  under  the 
last  Ptolemies  it  was  not  completed  until  some  time  in  Nero's 
reign.  The  most  ancient  names  that  figure  on  the  hiero- 
glyphic inscriptions  are  those  of  Cleopatra  and  of  her  son 
Ptolemy  Cfpsarion  ;  the  latest  is  that  of  Nero.  A  Greek 
inscription  legible  upon  the  upper  part  of  the  portico,  on 
the  overhanging  of  the  cornice,  is  in  the  name  of  Tiberius 
and  dated  in  the  21st  year  of  his  sovereignty. 

The  emperors  Caligula  :uid  Claudius  also  contributed  to 
the  embellishments  of  the  edifice.  Near  the  hieroglyphic 
inscription  in  which  arc  read  the  names  of  Cleopatra  and  of 
the  sou  she  bore  to  Caesar,  on  the  external  part  of  the  rear 


APPENDIX.  251 

wall  of  the  temple,  there  is  carved  a  portrait  of  that  famous 
Queen  ;  it  does  but  little  credit  to  the  chisel  of  the  artist. 
The  whole  sculptural  work,  moreover,  betrays  a  period  of 
decadence  in  the  art.  The  hieroglyphics,  like  tne  orna- 
ments, are  of  inferior  execution,  as  we  find  them  on  many 
other  monuments  of  the  same  periods.  But  arckitaature 
maintained  itself  better  in.  the  midst  of  this  wasting  away  of 
art.  Here,  for  instance,  the  general  effect,  notwithstanding 
t  he  bad  taste  and  the  heaviness  of  detail,  lacks  neither  gran- 
deur nor  majesty,  and  the  temple,  even  in  its  present  condi- 
tion, still  produces  a  vivid  impression  on  the  traveller. 

The  portico  or  pronaos,  a  work  of  Tiberius,  is  supported 
by  24  columns  in  four  rows  of  six  columns  each.  An  inter- 
columnary  wall,  breast  high,  extending  between  the  pillars, 
closes  the  lower  part  of  the  first  row.  The  ceiling,  which  is 
in'coniplete  preservation,  is  ornamented  with  the  celebrated 
zodiac  which  has  been  the  subject  of  so  many  dissertations 
and  hypotheses.  To  the  portico  succeed  thive  halls  of  un- 
equal size,  the  first  adorned  with  columns,  and  the  two 
others  with  adjoining  side  rooms.  On  the  ceiling  of  one  of 
these  chambers  was  secured  a  planisphere  which  is  now  in 
Paris.  The  naos  or  sanctuary  which  terminates  this  range  of 
halls  is  isolated  by  a  circular  passage  from  the  six  rooms  that 
surround  it.  The  total  length  of  the  temple  is  81  and  its 
width  34  yards.  That  of  the  portico,  which  overshoots  the 
body  of  the  temple  iu  such  manner  as  to  •  give  the  whole 
structure  the  form  of  a  T,  is  43  yards  in  length  by  98  of  interior 
height.  The  temple  was  preceded  by  its  dromos,  extending 
a  length  of  J.10  paces  to  an  isolated  pylon  which  bears  the 
names  of  Domitian  and  of  Trajan. 

This  temple  was  dedicated  to  the  goddess  Hathor,  from 
whom  the  city,  to  all  appearance,  had  taken  its  name  (Than- 
athor—the  habitation  of  Hathor.)  In  the  inscriptions  dis- 
tributed in  various  parts  of  the  temple,  the  goddess  bears, 
among  other  titles,  that  of  the  Qaeeu  of  Tennthyr,  a  word 
from  which,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  was  derived  Teutyris. 
In  its  turn  the  latter  degenerated  to 


2;>2  APPENDIX. 

M.  de  Rouge,  in  one  of  his  lectures  at  the  college  of 
France,  in  the  course  of  1865,  communicated  to  his  audience 
a  letter  from  M.  Mariette,  announcing  the  discovery  that  the 
latter  had  just  made,  beneath  the  temple  of  Denderah,  of 
a  subterranean  chapel,  the  construction  of  which  the  inde- 
fatigable explorer  thought  that  he  could  trace  back  to 
Cheops,  (Chuffu.)  the  founder  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 
Whatever  may  be  the  credit  to  assign  or  the  reservations  to 
be  made  in  reference  to  this  opinion,  one  thing  is  certain, 
to  wit,  that  the  discovery,  in  itself,  does  not  in  any  degree 
affect  the  relatively  modern  dates  of  the  upper  temple  and 
of  its  zodiac.  The  utmost  it  could  do  would  be  to  give 
fresh  credit  to  the  hypothesis  (rather  quickly  abandoned  by 
the  savants  of  our  day)  according  to  which  the  first  religious 
monuments  of  Egypt  were  subterranean  temples. 


in. 

THE  ANCIENT  BED  OF  THE  NILE,   (p.  33.) 

To  the  westward  of  the  Delta,  parallel  to  its  line  of  incli- 
nation and  thirty-five  miles  distant,  runs  a  valley  that  opens 
on  the  Mediterranean  Sea  not  far  from  Arabs  Cape.  The  name 
Bahr-bela-ma  given  by  the  wandering  tribes  to  this  valley 
signifies  the  river  without  water ;  it  stretches  far  away  to- 
ward the  south  and  sends  off  many  side  valleys"  to  the  Nile 
below  Gizeh,  (the  Bahr-el-Farigh,)  and  toward  Fayoum. 
It  is  one  of  the  singular  features  of  the  physical  configura- 
tion of  Northeastern  Africa.  A  simple  crest  or  ridge  sep- 
arates it  from  the  Wadi-Natroun  or  the  valley  of  the  lakes  of 
Natron,  which  no  doubt  was  only  one  of  its  brandies  at  the 
period  when  the  waters  rolled  full  and  high  between  its 
banks  fully  15,000  yards  apart.  The  Bahr-bela-Ma  is  clog- 
ged with  sand.  Neither  vegetation  nor  springs  can  be  seen  ; 


APPENDIX.  253 

but,  on  the  other  hand  there  are  such  great  quantities  of 
petrified  trunks  of  trees  as  are  met  with  between  the  Mokat- 
tan  and  the  Red  Sea.  Some  of  these  trunks,  completely 
transformed  to  stone,  are  as  much  as  eight  or  ten  yards  in 
length.  Impressions  of  fossil  fish  have  also  been  noticed  on 
the  stone,  and  it  has  been  ascertained  that  the  pebbles 
picked  up  there  belong  to  the  primitive  mountains  of  Up- 
per Egypt  and  the  high  Ethiopian  Plains.  These  petrifac- 
tions are  to  be  found,  also,  in  the  Bahr-el-Farigh. 

Ascending  southward  across  the  Fayoum,  the  small  oasis, 
the  interior  oasis  and  that  of  Khargeh,  one  may  follow  the 
traces  of  the  Bahr-bela-ma  to  the  bosom  of  the  Nubian  des- 
ertb  as  far  as  those  wadys  which,  traversed  by  the  roads 
leading  to  Darfur  between  the  20th  and  the  22nd  degrees  of 
latitude,  seem  to  weld  themselves  to  the  most  salient  angles 
of  the  present  bed  of  the  Nile  to  the  northward  of  Dougola. 
The  Bahr-bela-ma  is,  then,  but  the  old  channel  followed  by 
the  waters  of  the  Ethiopian  plateaux  ere  the  convulsions  of 
the  crust  of  the  earth  had  opened  an  outlet  for  them  toward 
the  primitive  gulf  which  became  Egypt,  thanks  to  the  local 
depressions  of  the  surface. 


IV. 

THE  SHE1  HERD  KINO  APAPSAS  AND  THE  GOD  SOTJTEKH. 

WE  read  in  Strabo  that  "  at  Heliopolis  and  Memphis  there 
were  edifices  of  a  barbarian  order  of  architecture,  with  sev- 
eral rows  of  columns,  but  with  neither  ornaments  nor  de- 
signs." Was  not  the  temple  reared  to  Soutekh,  the  only  God, 
by  the  Semitic  iconoclast  Apapias,  one  of  these  edifices  ?  Is 
it  any  other  than  the  monument  without  ornament,  without 
sculpture,  without  a  single  letter,  discovered  by  M.  Marietta 
twenty  yards  from  the  great  Sphinx  of  Gizeh,  and  in  which 
a  well  filled  up  with  the  statues  of  the  gods  and  the  kings  of 


254  APPENDIX. 

the  fourth  dynasty,  bears  witness  to  the  hatred  of  the  foun- 
der for  the  idols  and  fetiches  of  the  preceding  generations  ? 


V. 

THE  NAMES  OP  KAMESES  II. 
[Note  by  M.  Roug6.] 

If  the  testimony  of  Tacitus  placed  the  present  reading  of 
the  name  of  Rameses  beyond  dispute  it  did  not  assist  us  in 
comprehending  how  the  Greeks  had  come  to  write  a  name 
so  different  from  it.  The  condition  in  which  the  royal  lists 
taken  from  Manetho  have  reached  us  still  increase  the  em- 
barrassment. In  the  nineteenth  dynasty  no  other  name  had 
been  found  on  these  lists  than  the  genuine  Egyptian  one  of 
Rameses  Mei-Amoun.  The  Greek  chronologists  who  have 
transmitted  these  lists  to  us  felt  that  they  could  not  omit  in- 
troducing the  Sesostris  of  Herodotus,  somewhere.  A  list  of 
the  Egyptian  kings  on  which  Sesostris  had  not  been  named 
would  have  seemed  to  them  something  as  monstrous  as  a 
history  of  Greece  from  which  the  name  of  Alexander  had 
been  excluded.  Hence  these  compilers  of  quotations  found 
in  Manetho,  at  the  twelfth  dynasty,  a  king  whose  name 
Sesortasen  presented  some  analogy  to  that  of  Sesoslris.  More- 
over, he  was  a  conqueror.  His  monuments,  which  still  exist 
to  this  day,  show  that  he  had  advanced  the  frontiers  of  Egypt 
on  the  Nubian  side,  and  that  his  memory  was  still  held  in 
sufficient  honor  to  cause  fresh  temples  to  be  reared  to  his 
memory  many  centuries  after  his  death.  Undoubtedly  there 
were  in  the  first  extracts  from  Manetho  some  words  of  praise 
following  this  royal  name,  as  there  were  after  several  others ; 
and  this  circumstance,  joined  to  the  similarity  of  names,  in- 
duced the  chronologists  to  place  the  Sesostris  of  the  Greeks 
just  there.  The  writing  that  accompanies  it  is,  moreover, 
too  clear  in  its  specifications  to  be  accepted  as  the  genuine 
text  of  Manetho. 


APPENDIX.  255 

It  is  not  the  Sesostris  of  Herodotus  that  we  meet  with, 
then,  at  the 'twelfth  dynasty  ;  it  was,  indeed,  a  king  who  was 
victorious  on  the  frontiers,  but  whose  armies  had  never  pen- 
etrated into  Asia,  and  this  false  application  of  the  legend  of 
Sesostris  may  have  been  caused  by  the  complete  absence  of 
trhat  famous  name  from  the  real  lists  of  Manetho.  Since 
the  British  Museum  published  its  flue  collection  of  papyri, 
all  Egyptian  scholars  have  remarked  in  the  historical  texts 
of  the  nineteenth  dynasty  a  singular  royal  monogram  which 


reads  Sesu,  \~  '  '  '  -**•  Jl .  The  same  name  is  also  found 
at  Thebes  on  a  mural  inscription.  It  seemed  impossible  to 
find  any  particular  place  for  this  king  Sesu,  and  the  analogy 
of  the  name  with  Sesostris  was  so  tempting,  that  it  no 
doubt  occurred  to  the  mind  of  more  than  one  archaeologist ; 
but  the  question  was  to  find  some  decisive  information  so  as 
to  correctly  place  the  king  designated  by  the  device.  I  be- 
lieve that  I  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  come  across  the  proof 
desired,  in  the  Egyptian  collection  in  the  imperial  musm-m 
at  Vienna. 

That  museum  possesses  a  small  solid  pyramid  of  calcareous 
stone ;  its  four  sides  are  covered  with  finely  executed  carv- 
ings. I  have  described,  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Louvre,  the 
ordinary  decoration  of  this  small  monument.  It  is,  so  to 
speak,  turned  so  as  to  face  eastwardly,  and  is  always  made 
up  of  invocations  to  the  sun  in  his  various  positions.  The 
Vienna  pyramid  does  not  fall  short  of  this  programme,  and 
these  repeated  invocations  have  supplied  opportunities  to 
frequently  mention  the  name  of  the  person  dedicating  it. 
That  personage  was  called,  like  the  great  king,  Rameses 

Mei-Amoun,  |  f |]  j  f  (\U  •  Excepting  the  border  sur- 
rounding the  royal  name,  the  signs  are  exactly  the  same. 
Now,  twice  upon  the  pyramid,  the  same  Egyptian  is  named 


256  APPENDIX. 


simply  Ses,  I   I    written  without  the  vowel.     A  third  time  his 

name  is  written  SesMei-Ai  wun  \  I  \\Ml  in  such  manner  as 
to  make  us  perfectly  understand  that  Ses  is  a  popular  abbre- 
viation of  Rameses.  This  royal  name,  in  its  most  complete 
form,  that  which  was  particularly  in  use  under  Rameses  L, 


SES 


reads  thus  :V  I   T  Ramesesu.       From  this  form 

are  derived  several  abbreviations.     On  the  historical  papyri 


we  find  the  scrolls 


d 


., 


Sesesu,    and  V      '    '    '  -A  J|  Ra-Sesesu,     all  used  indiffer- 
ently to  designate  Barneses  II.     I  have  even  found  there  the 


variation  V  I  I  JlT  1  '  1  ~«~J(  Sem-Mei- Amoun,  identical 
with  that  which  is  read  once  on  the  pyramid  at  Vienna,  where 
the  surname  Met- Amoun  accompanies  the  abbreviation  of  the 
proper  name.  It  is  certain,  then,  that  there  did  exist  a  pop- 
ular abbreviation  Kesu,  so  currently  used  to  designate  the 
great  Rameses,  that  it  could  be  employed  indifferently  to 
write  the  title  of  one  of  his  namesakes.  The  form  used  in 
the  papyri  Sesesn  is  very  exactly  what  Diodorus  has  tran- 
scribed into  Sesoosis.  It  is  not  that  I  regard  the  form  Sesos- 
tris  as  less  correct ;  it  may  be  derived  from  the  scroll  Ra-Se- 
sesu.  The  Egyptians  had  known  a  number  of  kings  whose 
names  ended  in  the  word  ra,  or  sun  (pronounced  ri  by  iota- 
cism,  according  to  all  the  Greek  transcripts,  in  the  termina- 
tions). Although  the  sign  for  the  sun  0  was  traced  at  the 
commencement  of  the  scroll  as  an  honorary  distinction,  tho 


APPENDIX.  257 

grammatical  construction  frequently  brought  it  to  the  end  of 
the  name.     It  is  thus  that  the  name  of  king  Menkeres,  writ- 


ten invariably 


LI 


He-men-Ice,  became  in  the  pronuncia. 
tion    fumm  LJ  Q    and  it  is  in  this  way  that  I  found  it  written 


and  it  is  in  this  way  that  I  found  it  written  for  the  proper 
name  of  a  Saitic  functionary.  It  seems  to  me  very  probable 
that,  in  consequence  of  this  custom,  the  abbreviation 


(TUTU 


became  transformed  in  the  mouth  of  the 
people  to  Sesesu-ri  and  that  it  was  in  this  shape  that  they 
peated,  in  the  presence  of  Herodotus,  the  name  that  produced 
the  Greek  from  Sesostris. 

[Extract  from  the  Atheene-uinfratifais,  1856.] 


VI. 

THE  IMAGES   OF   ANCESTOES,   (p.    79.) 

THE  small  statues  of  the  ancestors  and  predecessors  of  Barn- 
eses II.,  which  the  musal  paintings  represent  as  figuring  at 
the  panegyric  of  his  coronation,  are  only  thirteen  in  number. 
They  are,  besides  those  of  his  father  Seti  and  his  grandfather 
Eameses  I.,  those  of  nine  lawful  kings  of  the  18th 
dynasty.  Aahmes,  Amenophl.,  Thothmes  I.,  ThothmesIL, 
Amenoph  II.,  Thothmes IV.,  Amenoph  III.,  and  Horemheb. 
These  historical  sovereigns  are  preceded  by  a  Mentu 
Hotep  VI.,  of  the  llth  dynasty,  who  has  left  no  trace  of  his 
personality  on  the  monuments,  and  of  the  legendary  Mena — 
two  pers  onages  only,  and  problematical  at  that,  to  represent 


2/>8  APPENDIX. 

the  long  series  of  ages  attributed  to  the  history  of  Egypt 
beyond  the  time  of  the  Hycsos  !  ....  Is  it  not  as  though,  in 
a  gallery  of  portraits  of  the  Bourbon  race,  no  place  had  been 
found  prior  to  the  time  of  Henry  IV.,  for  any  but  the  like- 
nesses of  Eobert  the  Strong  and  Francis  the  son  of  Hec- 
tor ? 

This  leads  us  naturally  to  some  reflections  on  the  tables  or 
lists  of  the  Egyptian  Kings  recently  discovered  and  pub- 
lished. 

THE  TABLES   OF  ABYDOS  AND   OF  MEMPHIS. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1863,  M.  Mariette,  who  had 
just  made  some  excavations  in  the  great  burial  district  of 
Sakkara  near  Memphis  with  great  success,  published  in  the 
Archceological  Review  (Revue  Archeologique)  a  monumental 
table  containing,  in  their  order,  the  names  of  the  fifty-three 
Pharaohs.  Seti  I.,  of  the  19th  dynasty,  himself,  comprised 
in  the  same  table,  is  represented  as  making  the  offerings  pre- 
scribed by  the  funereal  rites,  to  his  deified  predecessors. 
Although  the  Egyptian  scribes  to  whom  was  confided  the 
task  of  recalling  their  names,  have  inverted  the  order  of  the 
kings  of  the  12th  dynasty,  whether  through  inattention  or  in 
pursuance  of  some  purpose  as  yet  nnfathomed,  in  such  man- 
ner as  to  ascend  instead  of  descending  the  scale  of  time ; 
and  although  this  table  contains  among  the  kings  of  the 
first  dynasties,  some  names  until  then  unknown,  stiU,  such 
as  it  is,  it  was  at  the  time  of  its  publication,  in  the  month  of 
September  1863,  the  most  important  document  of  its  kind 
that  had  seen  the  light  since  the  discovery  of  the  famous 
tablet  of  Abytlos  in  the  possession  of  the  British  Museum. 
But  it  was  not  long  ere  the  glory  of  this  discovery  was 
eclipsed  by  another,  still  more  important,  found  by  the  in- 
defatigable French  explorer.  M.  Mariette  was  very  recently 
lucky  enough  to  find  a  considerable  portion  of  a  temple, 
buried  in  the  soil  and  dedicated  to  Asiris,  in  the  heart  of 
th«-  holy  fity  of  Abydos,  the  same  from  which  the  table  in 
the  British  Museum  came.  Upon  one  of  the  walls  of  thia 


APPENDIX.  259 

temple  lie  discovered  i  representation  of  the  offerings  made 
by  Seti  I.,  and  by  ji;  ton,  (who,  afterwards,  was  Barneses 
the  Great,)  to  their  deceased  ancestors,  no  less  than  seventy- 
six  in  number,  from  the  first  dynasty  ruler,  Menes,  down  to 
Sethi  himself.  This  discovery,  which  a  German  doctor,  a 
savant  by  trade  and  a  robber  by  calling,  who  clung  to  the 
steps  of  M.  Mariette,  has  tried  to  take  away  from  our  coun- 
tryman, is  undoubtedly  of  great  value,  but  has  perhaps  been 
rated  too  high  in  a  historical  point  of  view.  A  slight  obser- 
vation will  suffice  to  prove  as  much.  The  first  part  of  the 
old  table  of  Abydos  having  been  destroyed,  it  is  not  known 
whether  this  table  did  or  did  not  commence  with  Menes. 
The  Sakkara  tablet  does  not  contain  this  name,  which,  how- 
ever, is  found  upon  the  new  list  of  Abydos.  These  three 
lists  are  of  nearly  the  same  epoch  ;  the  first,  dating  from 
Barneses  the  Great,  contains  49  kings ;  the  second  and  the 
third  are  of  the  reign  of  Seti,  and  yet  do  not  present  the 
same  number  of  names.  The  temple  of  Memphis  has  fifty 
two  ;  that  of  Abydos  seventy-five — ah1  predecessors  of  the 
same  Seti.  Hence  it  must  be  inferred  that  the  Egyptian 
priests  who  prepared  them,  had  the  privilege  of  selecting 
the  kings  whoso  names  they  wished,  to  retain  a  choice  the 
motives  of  which  must  frequently  have  varied,  since  the  two 
tables  of  the  same  city  of  Abydos,  composed  at  two  periods 
quite  close  together,  differ  in  the  names  as  well  as  in  the 
number  of  them. 

But  it  will  be  confessed  that  the  choice  made  by  the  his- 
torian of  certain  kings  commendable  for  their  virtues  or 
odious  for  their  vices  is  reasonable  only  when  one  knows  the 
motives  that  determined  this  adoption  or  exclusion,  and  all 
becomes  mystery  to  one  who  has  not  possession  of  the  key 
to  the  labyrinth.  On  the  other  hand,  isolated  monuments 
and  the  list  of  the  royal  chamber  at  Karnak  have  revealed  to 
us  the  existence  in  Upper  Egypt  of  dynasties  of  Nantefs  and 
Sevekhoteps,  preceding  the  12th  dynasty  ;  and,  although 
localized,  perhaps,  in  Upper  Egypt,  they  were  powerful, 
but  the  names  of  all  their  people  are  omitted  on  the  three 
tables  of  which  we  are  treating. 


260  APPENDIX. 

A  careful  comparative  examination  of  these  different  doc- 
uments casts  a  ray  of  light,  however,  upon  the  dark  places. 
By  its  help,  we  perceive  that  there  was  a  period  when  the 
priests  had  not  the  privilege  of  choosing  among  the  names 
of  the  kings  ;  there  was,  indeed,  a  period  in  the  history  of 
Egypt  in  relation  to  which  the  different  tables  agree  with 
each  other  as  they,  likewise,  agree  with  the  lists  of  the  his- 
torian Manetho.  This  epoch  was  the  commencement  of  the 
famous  12th  dynasty  of  the  Sesortasens  and  of  the  Amenem- 
has.  In  ascending  from  Barneses  II.  to  Amenemha  I.  every- 
thing is  clear,  everything  follows  in  the  same  order  on  the 
different  documents  ;  but,  in  taking  the  last  named  king  for 
the  point  of  departure,  all  becomes  doubt  and  confusion  ex- 
cepting at  the  epoch,  comparatively  free  from  clouds  and 
mists,  of  the  Pharaohs  who  built  the  great  pyramids. 
Hence  we  may  conclude  that  the  learned  copyists  and  scribes 
of  the  colleges  at  Thebes  and  Memphis  composed,  in  the 
fourteenth  century  preceding  the  Christian  Era,  a  history  of 
Egypt  in  which  the  whole  period  anterior  to  the  12th  dy- 
nasty is  but  a  tissue  of  fables,  legends  and  traditions  toned 
down  to  the  historic  form, — something  like  the  history  of 
England  written  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  by  monks 
and  translated  into  Latin  by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  The 
papyrus  at  Turin  is  a  collection  of  this  nature,  with  its 
mythical  kings,  its  divine  dynasties  and  its  legendary  con- 
querors and  law-givers.  The  history  of  Manetho  is  probably 
but  an  abridgment  or  an  amplification  of  these  traditions, 
and,  thus,  these  compilations  of  the  fourteenth  century  be- 
fore our  era  bring  no  support  to  the  history  of  Manetho  in 
all  that  concerns  the  epochs  anterior  to  the  commencement 
of  the  12th  dynasty.  And,  in  fact,  it  is  with  this  period 
that  Manetho  himself  opens  the  second  book  of  his  history 
and  emerges  from  the  confused  eras  of  the  unfamiliar  dy- 
nasties and  nameless  kings  in  order  to  enter  upon  the  his- 
torically and  monumentally  well  ascertained  series  of  kings 
belonging  to  the  12th  dynasty. 

The  conclusion  of  all  this  reasoning  is  self-apparent.     The 


APPENDIX.  261 

history  of  the  Egyptian  Kings  of  the  united  monarchies  of 
Thebes  and  Memphis  begins  with  the  12th  dynasty  ;  with 
its  accession  the  tide  of  Egyptian  history  brightens ;  the 
priests  retain  without  difficulty  a  remembrance  of  the  kings 
that  had  governed  the  whole  country,  whereas  previously 
they  had  seen  before  them  a  crowd  of  local  sovereigns,  of 
mere  chiefs  of  cities  and  of  petty  kings  independent  of  each 
other — a  confused  throng  from  which  they  chose  whom  they 
pleased  according  to  the  different  degrees  of  renown  that 
each  of  these  petty  princes  had  been  able  to  acquire  in  the 
different  great  centres  of  the  theocratic  power.  Some  of 
these  Pharaohs,  the  most  celebrated  for  instance  of  those 
who  reared  the  Pyramids,  and  the  old  King  Papi,  are  in- 
scribed, alone  and  the  same  time,  upon  the  lists  of  Upper 
and  Lower  Egypt.  But  the  inscription  of  the  name  of 
Meues,  the  legendary  founder  of  the  empire,  upon  the  The- 
ban  list  of  Abydos,  and  his  exclusion  from  the  Meinphian 
list  of  Sakkara,  confirm  the  opinion  that  we  owe  what  we 
have  of  Egyptian  history  in  form  to  the  labors  of  the  The- 
ban  writers  belonging  to  the  palmy  time  of  Egyptian  litera- 
ture, the  age  of  the  Pharaohs  of  the  dynasty  of  Barneses. 


vn. 

THE  AKMY   OF  KAMESES  H — THE   MILITARY   CASTE,    (p.   98.) 

THE  figures  given  by  Diodorus  (Book  I.,  ch.  54)  for  the 
army  of  Sesoosis  (Rameses)  are  600,000  foot-soldiers,  24,000 
horsemen  and  27,000  chariots.  The  only  specimen  of  horse- 
manship that  has  been  discovered  on  all  the  monuments  ex- 
plored in  old  Egypt,  from  Memphis  to  the  Cataracts,  is  a 
veritable  caricature,  viz.,  a  terrified  fugitive  twisting  and 
struggling  on  the  back  of  a  runaway  horse.  Diodorus  says 
elsewhere  (Book  I.,  ch.  31,)  that,  in  his  time,  the  population 
of  Egypt  ran  up  to  3,000,000  of  souls,  and  that  it  had  been 


262  APPENDIX. 

millions  under  the  Ptolemies.  This  last  estimate,  without 
being  impossible,  seems  very  small  when  compared  with  the 
cultivable  surface  of  the  country,  even  putting  the  latter  at 
its  highest  estimate.  The  actual  number  of  2,900,000  al- 
ready surpasses  the  average  population  of  France  in  respect 
to  the  extent  of  its  territory.  It  is  true  that  in  the  time  of 
the  Pharaohs  and  the  Ptolemies,  the  cultivable  surface  of 
Egypt  may  have  been  double  what  it  is  now,  and  this  would 
give  us,  all  proportions  carefully  observed,  a  total  of 
6,000,000  souls.  In  his  "  Memoirs  Dictated  at  Saint  Helena, " 
the  former  general  of  the  army  of  the  East  pretends  that 
under  good  administration,  when  irrigating  canals  extended 
from  the  valley  of  the  Nile  to  the  Oasis  of  Libya,  this  num- 
ber may  have  risen  to  10  millions.  But  did  a  foundation  for 
this  hypothesis  ever  really  exist  ? 

However  that  may  have  been,  here  is  what  Herodotus  has 
told  us  of  the  military  caste  in  Egypt : 

Euterpe  CLXIV.  .  .  .  The  warriors  receive  from  their 
countrymen  the  names  of  Calasiries  and  Herrnotybies.  They 
live  in  the  nomes  hereinafter  enumerated,  and  all  Egypt  is 
divided  into  nomes. 

CLXV.  Those  of  the  Hermotybies  are :  Busiris,  Sais, 
Chemnis,  Papremis,  the  island  of  Prosopitis  and  the  half  of 
Natho ;  the  Hermotybies  have  their  domains  upon  these 
nomes  :  their  number  is  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
men  when  they  are  complete.  Not  one  of  them  has  ever 
learned  any  of  the  mechanical  arts,  but  they  devote  them- 
selves to  the  military  profession. 

CLXVI.  The  nomes  of  the  Calasiries  were  Thebes,  Bu- 
bastis,  Aphris,  Thauis,  Mendes,  Sebennys,  Athribis,  Phar- 
betis,  Thmuis,  Onuphis,  Anysis,  Mycephoris ;  the  last 
named  nome  occupies  an  island  opposite  Bubastis ;  the 
Calasiries  have  their  domains  on  these  nomes.  Their  num- 
ber is  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  when  they  are  in 
their  full  muster.  They  are  not  permitted  to  cultivate  any 
mechanical  art,  but  they  practice  the  arts  of  war  and  hand 
them  down  from  father  to  son. 

CLXYII.  I  cannot  decide  with  certainty    whether  the 


APPENDIX.  263 

Greeks  have  received  these  usages  from  the  Egyptians, 
since  I  perceive  that  the  Thracians,  the  Scythians,  the  Per- 
sians, the  Lydians,  and  nearly  all  the  barbarians  place  such 
of  their  citizens  as  have  learned  the  mechanical  arts,  and 
their  descendants  after  them,  in  the  lowermost  rank  in  their 
estimation,  and  considered  those  the  noblest  of  men  who 
free  themselves  from  manual  labor,  and  especially  those  who 
resort  to  warlike  service.  Such  were  the  ideas  of  all  the 
Greeks,  especially  of  the  Lacedaemonians  ;  the  Corinthians 
were  they  who  least  despised  the  artisan. 

CLXVm.  The  following  privileges  were  assigned  to  the 
soldiers,  and  they  were  the  only  Egyptians,  excepting  the 
priests,  to  whom  anything  of  the  kind  was  ever  gi'auted. 
Each  of  them  possesses  twelve  roods  of  excellent  land  ex- 
empt from  taxation.  The  Egyptian  rood  is  equivalent  to  a 
square  lot  measuring  a  hundred  cubits  on  each  side,  the 
cubit  being  identical  with  that  of  Samos.  Such  are  their 
privileges.  They  also  enjoy  by  turns,  and  never  twice  the 
same,  these  other  advantages  :  every  year  a  thousand  Gala- 
si  ries  and  as  many  Hermotybies  form  the  king's  guard  ;  to 
these,  besides  their  land,  are  given  every  day  five  mini  of 
baked  bread,  two  mini  of  beef  and  four  cups  of  wine. 


vin. 

THE       ROBUS,    (p.   126.) 

WE  are  not  unaware  that  Dr.  Brugsch,  and  with  him  many 
other  Egyptian  scholars,  make  this  people  out  to  have  been 
a  tribe  in  the  north  of  Africa.  For  them,  Itobus  meant 
Libus  or  Libyans.  But  notwithstanding  the  scientific 
authority  of  these  learned  men,  we  do  not  think  that  Libyiui 
shepherds  ever  wore  the  double  garment  and  the  long  tunic 
which  the  mural  paintings  attribute  to  the  liobns,  along 
with  their  clear  complexion,  their  blue  eyes  and  light  beard. 
Neither  do  we  admit  that  auy  kind  of  a  confederation  of  no- 


264  APPENDIX. 

madic  tribes  to  the  westward  of  the  Nile  ever  was  important 
enough  to  have  abandoned  from  12,000  to  13,000  corpses  to 
the  Egyptian  soldiers  on  one  field  of  battle  to  be  mutilated, 
as  the  inscriptions  at  Medinet-Abou  pretend  in  reference  to 
the  Robus. 

For  all  these  reasons,  it  remains  quite  evident  to  us,  as  it 
was  for  Champollion  and  for  Wilkinson,  that  it  will  not  do  to 
rank  the  Rohus  among  the  Eastern  peoples,  and  that  they 
occupied  in  Asia  a  country  very  remote  from  Egypt,  and  en- 
joyed a  climate  much  more  temperate  than  that  of  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Nile. 


IX. 

MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS  OP  THE  EGYPTIANS. 

[Extracts  from  Herodotus.] 

XXXV.  .  .  The  Egyptians  live  beneath  a  sky  peculiar  to 
themselves ;  their  country  is  watered  by  a  river  different 
from  all  other  rivers  :  and  then  they  have  established  laws 
and  customs  which  are,  for  the  most  part,  the  opposite  of 
those  of  the  rest  of  human  beings.     With  them  the  women 
go   to    market    and   trade  ;    the    men   stay   at    home    and 
weave.     Everywhere  else  the  weavers  pass  the  woof  above, 
the  Egyptians  pass  it  below.     The  men  carry  burthens  on 
their  heads,  the  women  carry  them  on  their  shoulders.     No 
woman  has  the  office  of  priesthood  for  gods  of  either  sex ; 
the  men  only  can  be  priests.     The  young  men  are  never  con- 
strained to  support  their  parents,  if  such  be  not  their  own 
wish  ;  but  the  girls  are  compelled  to  do  so  even  against  their 
will. 

XXXVI.  Elsewhere    the    priests    of    the    gods    wear 
long  hair  :  in  Egypt  they  shave  ;  among  other  men,  the  cus- 
tom is  to  cut  the  hair  when  mourning  commences  for  any 
ui-ur  ivlutive;  the  Egyptians,  to  show  respect  for  the  dead,  let 


APPENDIX.  265 

the  hair  and  the  beard  which  previously  they  shaved  off, 
grow  on  their  heads  and  under  their  chins.  Other  men  live 
separate  from  their  animals ;  the  Egyptians  live  pell  rnell 
with  them.  Elsewhere,  wheat  and  barley  are  staples  of 
food,  but  the  Egyptians  consider  it  a  disgrace  to  live  upon 
that  diet ;  they  use  duurah.  They  knead  dough  with  their 
feet  and  clay  with  their  hands,  and  they  lift  manure  with 
both  hands.  .  .  .  Every  man  wears  two  garments ;  the 
woman  has  only  one.  Other  people  fasten  the  rings  and 
the  cables  of  their  sails  inside ;  the  Egyptians  fasten  them 
outside.  The  Greeks  write  and  count  from  left  to  right ; 
the  Egyptians  go  from  right  to  left,  and,  in  doing  so,  claim 
that  they  go  to  the  right,  and  the  Greeks  to  the  left.  They 
have  two  kinds  of  letters — the  sacred  and  the  vulgate  char- 
acters.* 

XXXVII.  As  they  are  observers  of  ceremonies  more  than 
other  men  they  practise  the  following  customs  :  they  drink 
from  a  brazen  cup  which  they  cleanse  every  day  ;  and  this  not 
some  only  but  all  of  them  do.  They  wear  linen  garments, 
and  are  very  careful  to  have  them  always  fresh  and  cleanv 
They  deem  it  better  to  be  neat  than  to  be  handsome.  Every 
three  days,  the  priests  shave  their  whole  bodies,  so  that  no 
vermin  may  defile  them  while  they  are  serving  the  gods. 
They  wear  nothing  but  linen  garments  and  shoes  of  papyrus 
bark,  and  they  are  not  permitted  to  use  others.  They  wash 
themselves  with  fresh  water  twice  each  day  and  twice  each 
night.  They  accomplish  other  rites  innumerable  one  might 
say,  but  they  enjoy  uncommon  advantages.  They  neither 
wear  out  nor  spend  what  belongs  to  them  ;  sacred  viands  are 
cooked  for  them  ;  every  day  plenty  of  beef  and  geese  are 
sent  to  them  ;  grape  wine  is  distributed  to  them  ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  they  cannot  eat  fish.  No  beans  are  planted 
throughout  all  Egypt,  and  if  any  come  up  they  are  not  eaten, 
either  raw  or  cooked.  The  priests  cannot  bear  the  sight  of 

*  The  hieroglyphics  and  demotic  characters. 


2G6  APPENDIX. 

them,  since  they  look  upon  the  vegetable  as  impure.  Each 
god  is  served  not  by  one  priest  only,  but  by  several,  one  of 
whom  is  the  high  priest,  and  when  he  dies  his  son  succeeds 
him. 

XLVIL  The  Egyptians  regard  the  hog  as  an  impure  ani- 
mal. Consequently,  should  one  of  thorn,  in  passing  near  a 
pig,  be  touched  by  him,  he  is  made  to  go  down  into  the 
river  without  undressing,  and  they  bathe  him  in  his  cloth- 
ing ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Egyptian  swineherds  only, 
among  all  the  population,  cannot  enter  any  temple  in  the 
country.  No  one  gives  them  his  daughters  in  marriage  and 
no  one  marries  their  daughte.  s,  nor  can  they  intermarry  ex- 
cepting among  themselves.  The  Egyptians  do  not  think  it 
proper  to  sacrifice  a  pig  to  any  other  .deities  than  the  Moon 
and  Bacchus  ;*  to  them  only  they  sacrifice  that  animal,  at  the 
same  moment,  during  the  full  Moon,  and  eat  the  flesh  of  the 
victim.  The  manner  of  making  this  sacrifice  of  swine  is  as 
follows :  when  the  victim  has  boon  slaughtered,  they  fasten 
together  the  extremity  of  the  tail,  the  spleen  and  the  kid- 
neys. These  are  then  wrapped  in  all  the  fat  found  in  the 
stomach,  and  are  burned  upon  the  altar.  The  remainder  of 
the  flesh  is  eaten  during  the  same  day  at  the  close  of  the 
sacrifice  :  no  one  would  taste  it  on  any  other  day. 

XL VIII.  At  the  evening  repast,  on  the  day  previous  to 
the  festival  of  Bacchus,  (Asiri,)  every  man,  in  front  of  his  own 
door,  having  slaughtered  a  young  pig  gives  it  to  the  swine- 
herd who  had  sold  it  to  him,  to  take  away.  The  Egyptians 
celebrate  the  rest  of  the  festival  as  the  Greeks  do,  in  all  but 
the  music  and  the  singing. 

.  .  .  L.  Nearly  all  the  names  of  the  gods  came  to  Greece 
from  Egypt.  My  researches  prove  to  me  that  we  get  them 
from  the  barbarian  countries,  and  I  think  that  they  come 
especially  from  Egypt.  Excepting  Neptune  and  the  Dioscuri, 
of  whom  I  have  already  spoken  ;  excepting  Juno,  Vesta, 
Themis,  the  Graces  and  the  Nereids,  the  names  of  all  tin 

*  Luis  aud  Asiri. 


APPENDIX,  267 

other  gods  have  always  existed  among  the  Egyptians.  I 
here  repeat  what  they  themselves  declared  to  me.  The 
divinities  of  whom  they  say  they  do  not  know  the  names 
seem  to  me  to  have  been  named  by  the  Pelasgi,  excepting 
Neptune  (Poseidon).  The  Libyans  were  they  who  revealed 
this  last  divinity  to  us :  no  one  pronounced  his  name  pre- 
viously, and  they  have  always  honored  him  as  a  god.  The 
Egyptians  do  not  worship  heroes. 

LI.  The  Greeks  have  learned  from  the  Egyptians  the 
customs  which  I  have  already  mentioned  and  others  that  I 
shall  speak  of  hereafter. 

LII.  Primitively,  the  Pelasgi,  when  praying,  made  offer- 
ings of  all  kinds  to  their  gods,  as  I  was  told  at  Dodona,  but 
they  gave  neither  name  nor  surname  to  any  one  of  them  ; 
for  they  had  never  heard  any  given  to  them.  They  called 
them  gods  for  the  sole  reason  that,  after  having  put  the 
universe  in  order,  they  maintained  all  its  laws.  Then,  much 
time  having  elapsed,  they  learned  from  Egypt  the  names  of 
gods  other  than  Bacchus,  and,  a  long  time  afterward,  this 
last  name  too.  They  consulted  the  oracle  of  Dodona  in  re- 
lation to  these  names,  that  being  the  one  wliich  the  Greeks 
consider  the  most  ancient,  and  which,  at  that  time,  was  the 
only  one.  When  the  Pelasgi  had  asked  whether  they  should 
accept  names  coming  from  the  barbarians,  the  oracle  replied 
t"  Take  them !"  Thereupon,  they  sacrificed  to  the  gods 
under  these  names,  of  which  they  made  use  from  that  time 
forth,  and,  finally,  the  Greeks  received  the  same  from  them. 

LIII.  Whence  came  each  of  the  gods  ?  Have  they  always 
existed  ?  What  is  the  form  of  them  ?  Nothing  of  all  this 
was  known,  properly  speaking,  until  a  very  recent  period. 
For  I  think  that  Hesiod  and  Homer  only  four  hundred  years 
anterior  to  me,  not  more.  Well,  it  was  they  who  made  up 
the  Greek  theogony ;  who  gave  names  to  the  gods ;  who 
distributed  honors  and  attributes  among  them ;  who  de- 
scribed their  forms,  and  it  appears  to  me  that  the  poets 
said  to  have  preceded  those  two  men  were  born  after  them. 

LVIIL  The  oracle  of  Thebes  in  Egypt  and  that  of  Dodoua 


268  APPENDIX. 

yield  their  responses  in  nearly  the  same  manner.  The  art 
of  prophesying  from  an  inspection  of  the  victims  came  also 
from  .Egypt.  The  Egyptians  were  the  first  of  all  men  to 
establish  solemn  processions,  holidays  and  oli'eiings,  and  it 
is  from  them  that  the  Greeks  learned  these  ceremonies. 
This,  for  me,  is  proof  of  the  fact :  in  Egypt  it  is  plain  that 
they  are  very  ancient,  and,  in  Greece  that,  they  have  been  bnt 
recently  established. 

LIX.  The  Egyptians  do  not  restrict  themselves  every  year 
to  one  solemn  festival  only  ;  those  great  assemblages  are 
frequent.  The  first  of  these  and  the  one  which  is  the  most 
zealously  attended,  is  held  at  Bubastis  in  honor  of  Diana  : 
the  second  at  Busiris  in  honor  of  Isis,  since  in  this  city  stands 
the  largest  temple  of  Isis.  The  city  itself  is  built  in  the 
midst  of  the  Delta,  and  Isis,  in  the  language  of  the  Greeks, 
is  Ceres.  The  third  gathering  is  at  Sais  in  honor  of  Minerva  : 
the  fourth  at  Heliopolis,  in  honor  of  the  Sun  ;  the  fifth  at 
Buto,  in  honor  of  Latona ;  the  sixth  at  Papremis,  in  honor 
of  Mars. 

LX.  And  this  is  the  way  in  which  they  repair  to  the  City 
of  Bubastis,  for  both  men  and  women  go  thither,  in  great 
multitudes,  from  all  parts,  each  family  in  its  boat.  Some  of 
the  women  have  castanets  and  sound  them  :  for  their  part 
during  the  whole  trip  some  of  the  men  play  the  flute  and 
the  remainder  of  both  sexes  clap  their  hands  and  sing. 
When,  as  they  sail  along,  they  approach  one  of  the  cities  that 
dot  the  way,  they  moor  the  boat  and  do  what  I  am  going  to 
relate.  Among  the  women  some  continue  their  singing  or 
rattle  their  castanets,  while  others  with  loud  cries  jeer  at  the 
women  of  the  city,  and  others  again  dance.  ...  At  each 
town  on  the  river  banks,  they  do  in  like  manner.  On  their 
arrival  at  Bubastis,  the  passengers  begin  to  celebrate  the 
festival  and  offer  sacrifices  ;  and  in  this  solemnity  they  con- 
sume more  grape  wine  than  during  all  the  rest  of  the  year. 
Without  counting  the  children,  more  than  seven  hundred 
thousand  men  and  women,  according  to  the  statements  of 
the  inhabitants,  assemble  there.  Such  are  the  things  that 
take  place  at  Bubastis. 


APPENDIX.  269 

LXI  ....  After  the  sacrifices,  the  men  and  women, 
thronging  together  in  a  numberless  multitude,  ply  each 
other  with  blows.  For  what  god  they  strike  it  would  be  an 
impiety  in  me  to  tell.  The  Carians  established  in  Egypt  do 
that  and  more  still ;  they  cut  each  other's  foreheads  with 
knives  ;  by  that  they  show  that  they  are  strangers  and  not 
Egyptians. 

LXII.  When  the  latter  are  assembled  to  make  sacrifices 
in  the  city  of  Sais,  during  a  certain  night,  they  all  light,  in 
in  the  open  air  around  their  houses,  a  great  number  of 
lamps  filled  with  salt  and  oil,  the  wick  floating  on  the  sur- 
face. 

The  wick  burns  all  night,  and  this  celebration  is  called  the 
"  festival  of  the  lamps. "  Such  Egyptians  as  have  not  come 
to  the  assemblage  equally  celebrate  the  night  of  the  sacri- 
fice ;  all  light  their  lamps  as  well,  so  that  it  is  not  the  city  of 
Sais  alone  that  is  illuminated,  but  all  Egypt.  For  what  rea- 
son has  this  night  its  share  of  illuminations  and  honors  ? 
That  is  told  in  a  sacred  legend. 

LXIII.  At  Heliopolis,  at  Buto,  the  celebrants  restrict 
themselves  to  the  immolation  of  victims.  At  Papremis,  the 
same  sacrifices  are  offered  up  and  the  same  ceremonies  are 
observed  as  in  the  other  cities  ;  Moreover,  when  the  sun 
begins  to  wane,  some  of  the  priests  are  busied  around  the 
statue  ;  others  in  much  greater  number,  armed  with  staves, 
take  their  stations  at  the  entrance  of  the  temple  ;  the  people, 
that  is  to  say  many  thousand  persons,  fulfilling  their  vows 
and  similarly  armed,  are  assembled  on  the  opposite  side. 
Now,  on  the  previous  evening,  the  statue,  enclosed  in  a 
small  chapel  of  painted  wood,  had  been  carried  from  the 
temple  to  another  station ;  the  priests  that  had  been  placed 
around  the  statue  go  to  work  and  draw  a  four-wheeled 
chariot  to  convey  the  wooden  chapel  and  the  statue  that  it 
contains  back  to  the  large  temple  ;  but  those  who  are  in  tho 
portico  refuse  to  admit  them.  The  crowd  of  devotees, 
rushing  to  the  rescue  of  the  god,  strike  them  :  they  defend 


270  APPENDIX. 

themselves  ;  a  violent  conflict  with  sticks  and  staves  ensues, 
and  many  a  head  is  broken  ;  however,  the  Egyptians  declare 
that  no  one  has  ever  been  killed. 

....  LXV.  Bat  the  Egyptians  observe  with  extreme 
attention  all  the  prescribed  forms  of  religion,  and  particularly 
those  that  I  am  about  to  describe.  Although  coterminous 
with  Libya,  their  country  is  not  infested  with  wild  beasts. 
The  animals  that  they  know  are  all  reputed  sacred,  chose 
that  do  and  those  that  do  not  live  with  men,  alike.  Were  I 
to  tell  why  they  hold  them  sacred,  I  should,  in  my  narrative, 
penetrate  to  things  divine  of  which  I  am  seeking  to  avoid 
saying  a  word,  for  if  I  have  chanced  to  touch  upon  them, 
I  have  not  done  so  without  being  forced  to  it  by  necessity. 
There  exists,  on  the  subject  of  animals,  a  custom  which  I 
am  about  to  set  forth ;  keepers  of  the  two  sexes  are  ap- 
pointed to  feed  each  kind  separately  ;  the  son  succeeds  the 
father  in  this  honorific  office.  The  inhabitants  of  the  towns 
fulfill  their  vows  through  the  medium  of  these  keepers ; 
when  they  have  made  a  vow  to  the  divinity  to  which  one  of 
these  animals  belongs,  they  shave  either  the  whole  head,  or 
half  of  it,  or  the  third  part  of  the  head  of  their  sons  ;  they 
then  put  in  the  scales  of  a  balance,  on  one  side  the  hair, 
and  on  the  other  its  weight  in  silver  ;  and,  whatever  that 
weight  may  be,  they  give  it  to  the  keeper  of  the  animal. 
The  latter  in  return  cuts  up  some  fish  in  pieces  and  throws 
them  to  his  animals  for  fodder  :  such  is  the  food  offered  to 
them.  Should  any  person  kill  one  of  these  animals  wilfully, 
he  is  put  to  death  ;  should  he  kill  unintentionally,  he  is 
punished  with  a  fine  fixed  by  the  priests.  Any  one  killing 
an  ibis  or  a  sparrow-hawk  voluntarily  or  involuntarily  would 
infallibly  be  immolated. 

LXVI.  Whatever  may  be  the  number  of  the  animals  fed 
along  with  the  men,  it  would  be  still  more  considerable  if, 
in  the  cat  species,  for  instance,  the  males  did  not  destroy  a 
great  many  of  the  young  by  savage  instinct,  or  if  frequent 
fires  did  not  kill  a  va-st  number  of  these  creatures.  When 
such  accidents  occur,  profound  grief  takes  possession  of  the 


APPENDIX.  271 , 

Egyptians.  When,  in  any  dwelling,  a  cat,  dies  naturally,  the 
inhabitants  shave  off  their  eyebrows  only  ;  but  if  it  be  a  dog 
that  dies  they  shave  their  bodies  and  their  heads. 

LXVII.  Dead  cats  are  taken  to  consecrated  buildings ; 
then,  after  having  been  embalmed,  they  are  buried  at 
Bubastis.  Dogs  are  bulled,  each  one  in  its  own  town,  in 
consecrated  chambers,  and  ichneumons  the  same.  The 
shrew-mice  and  the  sparrowhawks  are  taken  to  Buto,  the 
ibis  to  Hermopolis.  Bears,  which  are  very  rarely  met  with, 
and  wolves  (jackals  rather)  whose  size  does  not  exceed  that 
of  foxes,  are  interred  on  the  spot  where  they  are  found  lying 
dead. 

LXVIII.  The  crocodile  during  the  four  coldest  months 
eats  nothing ;  although  a  quadruped,  it  lives  both  on  land 
and  water  ;  it  lays  its  eggs  on  land  and  hatches  them  there. 
It  passes  the  greater  part  of  the  day  on  the  banks  and  the 
whole  night  in  the  river  because  the  water  is  warmer  than 
the  open  air  and  the  dew.  Of  all  the  perishable  creatures 
that  we  know  this  one  reaches  the  largest  from  the  smallest 
bulk  ;  its  eggs  are  no  bigger  than  those  of  a  goose  ;  the 
young  one  is  born  only  the  length  of  the  egg  and  grows  to 
seventeen  cubits, — sometimes  more.  It  has  eyes  like  a  pig, 
large  teeth,  and  jutting  scales  all  along  the  dorsal  column. 
It  is  the  only  animal  that  has  no  tongue.  Its  lower  jaw  is 
immovable,  and  it  closes  the  upper  jaw  upon  it,  in  this  too 
being  peculiar  among  all  living  creatures.  It  has  strong 
claws,  and  on  its  back  scales  which  cannot  be  cut.  Blind  in 
the  water,  on  land  its  sight  is  piercing  ;  and,  as  it  passes  the 
most  of  the  time  in  the  river,  its  mouth  is  full  of  insects  that 
suck  its  blood.  Animals  and  birds  flee  from  it,  but  the 
trochylus  lives  in  amity  with  it  because  that  bird  renders  it 
good  service.  In  fact  when  the  crocodile  comes  out  of  the 
water  and  reaches  dry  land,  its  first  need  is  to  inhale  the 
breath  of  the  zephyr  ;  it  emerges,  therefore,  with  its  jaws 
wide  open ;  then,  the  trochylus  has  access  to  them  and  can 
relieve  it  of  the  insects  which  it  swallows.  The  crocodile 
receives  this  relief  with  joy,  and  never  harms  the  trochylus. 


272  APPENDIX. 

LXIX.  To  some  Egyptians,  the  crocodile  is  sacred  ;  to  oth- 
ers it  is  not  :  the  latter  treat  it  as  an  enemy.  Around  Thebes 
and  Lake  Moaris,  the  inhabitauis  consider  it  sacred.  Each 
one  of  them  rears  a  crocodile,  which  is  tamed  by  training  ; 
and  they  hang  pendants  and  buckles  of  crystal  and  gold  in 
its  ears ;  they  encircle  its  fore-paws  with  bracelets  and  give 
it  choice  viands  from  the  sacrifices.  In  fine,  while  it  is  alive 
they  tend  it  the  best  they  can  ;  when  it  is  dead  they  em- 
balm it  and  bury  it  in  consecrated  ground.  On  the  contrary, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  territory  of  Elephantine  eat  croco- 
diles, not  regarding  them  as  sacred  in  uuy  wise.  The  Egyp- 
1  ian  name  of  this  animal  is  not  crocodile,  but  champse.  The 
louians  have  called  it  crocodile,  finding  it  resemble  in  shape 
the  lizards  (krokodeilos)  which  breed  in  stone  walls. 

LXXVII.  The  Egyptians  who  inhabit  the  cultivated  part 
o"the  country,  taking  pleasure  in  adorning  their  remembrance, 
are  the  most  refined  of  all  the  men  whom  I  approached  and 
studied.  Their  legirnen  is  as  follows  :  very  careful  in  the 
preservation  of  their  health  they  purge  themselves  with  emet- 
ics and  clysters  every  month  for  three  days  in  succession, 
since  they  think  that  all  the  diseases  of  man  come  from  his 
food  and  drink.  Aside  from  these  precautions  the  Egyptians 
are,  next  to  the  Libyans,  the  healthiest  of  mortals,  in  niy  opin- 
ion owing  to  the  steadiness  of  their  seasons  ;  in  fact,  sickness 
comes  upon  us,  in  consequence  of  the  changes  of  all  things, 
especially  of  the  seasons.  They  feed  on  bread  made  from 
dourrah  ;  they  drink  a  wine  made  from  barley,  in  those  dis- 
tricts where  there  are  no  vines.  They  eat  fish,  some  of  it 
dried  in  the  sun,  other  kinds  cured  in  drying-houses,  close 
by  the  sea.  Among  birds,  they  prefer  quails  and  ducks,  and 
besides  these,  some  small  birds  dried  raw.  All  other  birds 
and  fish  that  they  have  in  their  country,  apart  from  those 
which  they  consider  sacred^form  part  of  their  food,  roasted 
or  boiled, 

LXVIII.  At  the  banquets  of  the  wealthy,  when  the  eating 
is  over,  a  man  brings  in  a  coffin,  the  wooden  effigy  of  a  dead 
body  perfectly  imitated  by  the  sculptor  and  the  painter,  nnd 


APPENDIX.  273 

one  or  two  cubits  in  length.  This  ths  man  shows  to  each  of 
the  guests,  and,  as  he  does  so,  he  says  :  "  Look  upon  this  ; 
then  drink  and  be  merry,  for  such  as  thou  seest  it  wilt  thou 
be,  after  thy  death." 

LXXX.  With  the  Lacedemonians  only  do  the  Egyptians 
agree  in  this  other  custom  :  young  men  when  they  meet 
their  elders,  yield  the  path  and  pass  aside  to  make  way  for 
them  ;  at  their  approach  they  rise  from  their  seats.  But  in 
what  follows,  they  do  not  resemble  any  Hellenic  nation. 
Instead  of  saluting  with  the  voice  on  the  street,  they  dc  so 
by  letting  their  hand  fall  to  the  knee. 

LXXXI.  They  dress  in  linen  tunics  with  fringes  around 
their  legs  ;  they  call  these  fringes  calis>ris,  and  over  the 
tunics  they  wear  mantles  of  white  wool.  However,  they 
do  not  eutei  the  temples  with  the  woolen  garment  on  ;  nor 
are  these  left  on  corpses  to  be  buried  with  them  that  would 
be  an  act  of  impiety.  In  this  respect,  they  chime  in  with  the 
Orphic,  or,  as  they  are  likewise  called,  the  Bacchic  traditions, 
which  are  equally  observed  by  the  Egyptians  and  by  the 
Pythagoreans,  since  among  the  latter  it  is  an  impious  act  to 
bury  in  woolen  tissues  any  one  who  has  been  initiated  in  the 
mysteries.  A  religious  motive  is  ascribed  to  this  custom. 

LXXXIV.  In  Egypt,  the  practice  of  medicine  is  divided 
iuto  specialities,  each  physician  devoting  himself  to  one 
branch  of  disease,  and  not  to  several.  Physicians  swarm 
everywhere,  some  for  the  eyes,  others  for  the  head,  others 
for  the  teeth,  others  for  the  stomach,  and  still  others  for  in- 
ternal disorders. 

LXXXV.  Their  acts  of  mourning  and  their  funeral  cer- 
emonies are  after  this  fashion  :  when  they  lose  a  relative 
whom  they  greatly  esteemed,  all  the  women  of  the  family, 
after  having  bedaubed  their  heads  and  faces  with  mire,  leave 
the  dead  body  in  the  house  and  wander  hither  and  thither 
through  the  town,  beating  their  uncovered  breasts  and 
naked  bosoms,  in  company  with  all  those  who  hold  relations 
yf  friendship  with  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the  men  with 


274:  APPENDIX. 

uncovered  breasts  beat  themselves  in  the   same   manner , 
this  done,  they  bear  the  body  away  to  embalm  it. 

LXXXVI.  There  are  persons  entrusted  with  this  business. 
It  forms  their  profession.  When  the  corpse  has  been 
brought  to  them,  the  euibalmers  show  the  friends  of  the  de- 
ceased wooden  models  of  corpses,  imitated  in  painting,  and 
they  point  out  those  that  they  consider  the  most  worthy  of 
attention,  the  name*  of  which  I  do  not  deem  it  proper  to  give 
in  this  place  ;  they  then  exhibit  the  second,  which  costs  less, 
and  finally  the  third,  which  is  the  cheapest  of  all.  After 
this,  they  ask  how  they  are  desired  to  operate  upon  the 
corpse,  and  so  soon  as  they  agree  upon  the  style  and  the  terms 
the  relatives  depart.  The  operators  thus  left  to  themselves 
proceed  in  the  following  manner  to  embalm  in  the  best  style. 
First,  with  a  bent  iron,  they  extract  the  brain  through  the 
nostrils,  at  least  the  greater  part  of  it,  and  afterward  the  rest 
by  the  application  of  dissolvent  injections.  Then,  with  a 
sharpened  Ethiopian  stone,  they  cut  open  the  sides  of  the 
corpse,  take  out  all  the  intestines  from  the  abdomen,  wash 
the  latter  with  palm  wine,  besprinkle  it  with  powdered  per- 
fumes, and  at  last  sew  it  up,  after  having  filled  it  with 
bruised  myrrh  of  pure  quality,  cinnamon  and  other  perfumes, 
from  among  which  incense  alone  is  excluded.  These  opera- 
tions completed,  they  dry  the  body  in  carbonate  of  soda  and 
leave  it  plunged  in  that  for  seventy  days,  but  no  longer  ;  they 
are  not  permitted  to  do  so.  At  the  expiration  of  these  sev- 
enty days,  they  wash  the  corpse  and  wrap  it  up  completely 
in  bandages  of  the  finest  linen  saturated  with  gum,  of  which 
the  Egyptians  make  great  use  instead  of  glue.  The  relatives 
then  again  take  possession  of  the  corpse,  enclose  it  in  a 
wooden  case  shaped  like  a  human  body,  and  place  it  standing 
against  the  wall  in  the  burial  chamber.  This  is  the  costliest 
style  of  embalming. 

LXXXVII.  For  those  who  prefer  the  middle  method  of 
embalming,  and  desire  to  avoid  heavy  expense,  the  embalmera 

*  Asm. 


APPENDIX.  275 

proceed  in  the  following  manner  ;  by  means  of  syringes 
they  inject  cedar  oil  into  the  abdomen  of  the  dead  without 
opening  it  or  removing  the  entrails,  and  they  take  care  to 
retain  the  liquid  in  such  manner  that  none  of  it  may  escape. 
They  next  plunge  the  body  into  carbonate  of  soda  and  leave 
it  there  for  the  time  specified,  and  then  cause  the  cedar  oil 
which  they  first  introduced,  to  issue  from  its  cavities.  The 
latter  has  strength  enough  to  carry  with  it  the  intestines  and 
the  viscera,  for  it  liquefies  them  all.  Externally,  the  soda 
"has  dried  up  the  flesh,  and  nothing  remains  of  the  dead  man 
but  his  skin  and  his  bones  :  these  operations  concluded,  they 
deliver  the  body  and  their  task  is  over. 

LXXXVHI.  The  third  style  of  embalming,  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  poor,  is  this  :  the  embalmers  make  an  in- 
jection of  horse-radish  into  the  intestines,  and  dry  the  body 
in  carbonate  of  soda  for  seventy  days  ;  then  they  deliver  it. 

XC.  Whoever  is  found  dead  after  having  been  seized  by  a 
crocodile,  or  swept  away  by  the  river,  be  he  Egyptian  or 
stranger,  and  whatever  the  town  where  his  body  was  picked  up, 
is  entitled  to  consecrated  burial  at  the  hands  of  the  inhabi- 
tants. They  perform  the  funeral  rites  in  the  costliest  man- 
ner and  deposit  the  body  in  their  burial  chambers.  Neither 
its  friends  nor  its  neighbors  are  permitted  to  touch  it,  but 
the  priests  of  the  Nile  take  charge  of  it  and  bury  it  as  a 
more  than  human  body. — Herodotus,  Book  II. 


The  foregoing  facts  w^re  gleaned  by  the  historian  of  Hali- 
carnassus  in  the  midst  of  Egyptian  society  when  it  had 
grown  old  and  was  in  full  decay  :  they  may  be  completed  by 
other  information  deduced  from  the  paintings  on  the  walls 
so  abundant  on  the  monuments  which  that  same  social  or- 
ganization reared  in  the  days  of  its  youth  and  development. 
In  this  respect,  what  is  there  more  curious  or  more  striking 
from  the  point  of  view  afforded  by  the  private  and  civic  life 
of  the  primitive  Egyptians  than  the  sepulchral  grottoes  of 


276  APPENDIX. 

Beni  Hassan,  excavated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Nile,  nut 
far  from  the  ancient  Artemidos  ?  Below  we  give,  according 
to  Charnpollion,  an  enumeration  of  the  subjects  represented 
on  the  walls  of  these  hypogees. 

I.  Agriculture. — Designs  representing  ploughing  done  by 
oxen  or  by  human  labor  ;  sowing,  the  treading  of  the  ground 
by  ranis,  and  not  by  pigs  as  Herodotus  says  ;  five  kinds  of 
carts ;  digging  and   the   harvest  of    grain    and    flax  ;    the 
sheaving  of  these  different  kinds   of  plants  ;  the   stacking, 
the  threshing  and  pounding,  the  measuring  and  the  housing* 
of  the  same  in  barns  ;  two  designs  of  different  kinds  of  large 
barns ;  flax  carried  by  asses ;  a  host   of  other  agricultural 
toils,  and  among  them  the  gathering  of  the  lotus  ;  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  vine,  the  vintage,  its  transportation,  the  seed- 
ing, the  winepress  of  two  kinds,  one  by  manual  power,  the 
other  by  machinery  ;  the  bottling  of  the  wine,  or  putting  up 
in  jars,  and  its  conveyance  to  the  cellar  ;  the  manufacture  of 
shrub,  etc.,  garden  culture,  the  gathering  of  fruit,    the  cul- 
tivation of  the  onion,  irrigation,  etc. ;  all,  like  the  following 
pictures,  with  explanatory  hieroglyphic  legends  ;  and,  more- 
over, the  superintendent  of  the  country  house  and  his  clerks. 

II.  Trades  and  Manufactures. — A  collection  of  paintings, 
mostly  in  colors,  so  as  to  the  better  determine  the  nature  of 
the  articles,  and  representing   the  carver  in  stone  and  the 
carver  in  wood,  the  painter  of  statues,  the  painter  of  archi- 
tectural   objects  ;  furniture   and  cabinet  work,  the   painter 
with  his  pallet  executing  a  picture  ;  scribes  and  clerks  busied 
with  writings  of  all  kinds  ;  workmen  at  the  quarries  carry- 
ing blocks  of  stone  ;  the  potter's  trade  with  all  its  operations  ; 
workmen  kneading  clay  with   their   feet,  others  with   their 
hands  ;  the  placing  of  the  clay  on  the  conical  wheel  and  the 
wheel  on  the  turning  lathe,  the  potter  making  the  belly  and 
the  neck  of  the  vase,  etc. :  the  first  baking  in  the  kiln,  the 
second  drying  in  the  oven  ;  makers  of  canes,  oars  and  pud- 
dles ;  cabinet  makers  ;  joiners  ;  carpenters  ;  wood-sawyers  ; 
curriers ;  the  leather  and  morocco   dyers  ;  the   shoemaker  ; 
spinning  ;  the  weaving  of  cloths  of  different   manufacture  ; 


APPENDIX.  277 

the  glassblower  and  all  his  operations ;  the  goldsmith,  the 
jeweller  ;  the  blacksmith. 

1IL  The  Military  Caste. — The  education  of  the  military 
caste  and  all  its  gymnastic  exercises,  represented  in  more 
than  200  pictures,  in  which  are  reproduced  all  the  positions 
and  attitudes  that  two  skillful  antagonists  can  assume,  attack- 
ing, defending,  receding,  advancing,  standing  up,  prostrate 
etc. ;  people  may  see  from  these  whether  Egyptian  art  con- 
tented itself  with  mere  profile  designs,  legs  joined  and  arms 
tightly  pressed  against  the  haunches. 

I  copied  all  this  curious  series  of  naked  warriors  struggling 
together ;  and,  besides,  some  sixty  figures  representing  sol- 
diers of  every  arm  and  of  every  rank  ;  sham  fights  ;  a  siege  ; 
the  tortoise  and  the  battering  ram  ;  military  punishments  ; 
a  field  of  battle  and  the  preparations  for  a  military  meal  ; 
finally,  the  manufacture  of  spears,  javelins,  bows,  arrows, 
war  clubs,  battle-axes,  etc. 

IV.  Singing,  Music  and  Dancing.  •-  A  picture  representing 
a  vocal  and  instrumental  concert  ;  a  singer  whom  a  musician 
accompanies  on  the  harp,  is  seconded  by  two  choirs,  one  of 
four  men,  the  other  of  five  women,  and  the  latter  beat  the 
time  of  the  measure  with  their  l^ands  :  it  is  a  whole  opera  ; 
harp  players  of  both  sexes  ;  players  of  the   German  fiute, 
of  the  flageolet,  of  a  species  of  conch  shell,  etc. ;  dancers  ex- 
ecuting different  figures  with  the  names  of  the  steps  they  are 
dancing  ;  in  fine,  a  very  curious  collection  of  designs  repre- 
senting dancing  women  (or  ahnes  of  ancient  Egypt)  dancing, 
singing,    playing  tennis    and    performing    divers    feats    of 
strength  and  skill. 

V.  A  considerable  number  of   designs  representing  the 
education  of  animals;  cowherds  with  oxen  of  all  kinds,  cows, 
calves  ;  milking  ;    butter    and  cheese    making  ;  goatherds  ; 
keepers  of  asses  ;  shepherds  and  their  sheep  ;  scenes  relating 
to  the  veterinary  art ;  finally,  the  barn  yard,  comprising  the 
management  of  a  great  variety  of  geese  and  ducks,  and  of  a 
species  of  swan  that  had  been  domesticated    in    ancient 


278  APPENDIX. 

VH.  Designs  relative  to  games,  exercises,  and  amusements. 
Among  these  may  be  noticed  a  sort  of  "  hot  cockles," 
"sledge-hammer,"  jackstraws,  the  game  of  pegs  driven  into 
the  ground,  etc. ;  different  games  of  strength ;  the  chase  of 
wild  beasts,  a  picture  representing  a  grand  hunt  on  the 
desert,  and  in  which  from  15  to  20  kinds  of  quadrupeds  are 
depicted  ;  scenes  representing  the  return  from  the  chase  ;  the 
game  carried  in  dead  or  brought  alive  ;  many  pictures  rep- 
resenting the  pursuit  of  birds  with  the  net ;  one  of  these 
paintings  is  of  very  large  dimensions  and  is  tilled  out  with 
all  the  colors,  and  the  movement  of  the  original.  Finally, 
drawings  on  a  large  scale,  of  the  different  kinds  of  traps  to 
take  birds,  are  given :  these  instruments  of  the  chase  are 
painted,  separately,  in  some  hypogees.  Then,  there  are 
many  pictures  that  relate  to  fishing  ;  line  angling  ;  the  line 
and  fishing  rod  ;  fishing  with  the  trident  or  bident ;  with 
the  net ;  the  preparation  of  fish,  etc. 

VIII.  Domestic  Justice. — Under  this  head,  I  have  arranged 
some  fifteen   designs  of    bas-reliefs    representing    offences 
committed    by    servants ;  the    arrest    of    the    culprit :  the 
charge   against  him  ;  his   defence  ;  his    conviction  by   the 
superintendents  of   the   household  ;  his  condemnation   and 
punishment,  which  is  restricted  to  the  bastinado,  the  minutes 
of  which,  along  with  all  the  particulars,  have  to  be  deposited 
with  the  body  of  the  trial  in  the  hands  of  the  master  of  the 
house  by  his  superintendent. 

IX.  The   House    and     Housekeeping. — I    have     brought 
together  in  this  series,    which  is    very    numerous   already, 
everything  that  relates   to   private   or  interior  home  life. 
These  very  curious  designs  represent,  1st,    different  Egyp- 
tian houses,    more    or   less  sumptuous  ;  2nd,  vases  of  dif- 
ferent   forms,    utensils   and  furniture,  all   colored,  because 
the  colors  invariably   indicate  the  material ;  3d,  a  splendid 
palanquin  ;  4th,  a  kind   of  small   room   with   folding  doors 
borne  along  on  a  sledge  and  serving  as  vehicles  for  the  great 
personages  of  Egypt  in  ancient  times  ;  5th,  monkeys,  cats  and 


APPENDIX.  279 

dogs  which  formed  part  of  the  household,  as  well  as  dwarfs 
and  other  human  deformities  who  served  to  clear  the  spleen 
of  the  Egyptian  lords  1500  years  B.  C.  just  as  they  did  for 
the  old  style  barons  in  Europe  1500  years  after  the  birth  of 
the  Saviour  ;  6th,  the  officers  of  a  great  establishment,  su- 
perintendents, clerks,  etc. ;  7th,  servants  carrying  in  supplies 
of  all  kinds  for  the  table ;  the  maids  likewise  bringing  various 
eatables  ;  8th,  the  mode  of  slaughtering  beef  and  cutting  it 
up  for  home  use  ;  9th,  a  series  of  designs  representing  cooks 
preparing  dishes  of  different  kinds  ;  10th  and  last,  servants 
bringing  the  dishes  all  prepared  to  the  master's  table. 

XII.  Navigation. — An  assortment  of  designs  representing 
the  construction  of  vessels  and  barks  of  different  kinds,  and 
the  games  of  the  sailors,  altogether  analogous  to  the  contests 
of  strength  and  skill  that  take  place  on  the  Seine  on  great 
holidays. — Champollion's  Letters  from  Egypt  and  Nubia. 


In  a  crypt  of  the  strange  necropolis  that  has  furnished 
these  details,  the  mortal  remains  of  a  governor  of  the  nome 
of  Sah  had  been  sealed  up  for  all  eternity.  The  deceased  in- 
forms us,  by  the  history  of  his  life  written  on  the  walls  of  his 
eternal  abode,  what  were  the  duties  and  conduct  of  an  impor- 
tant functionary  of  the  military  caste,  at  that  remote  period. 
....  As  a  general,  he  had  accompanied  the  king  (an  User- 
tesen  of  the  15th  dynasty)  into  the  land  of  Cush,  and  had 
penetrated  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth.  Subsequently,  at 
the  head  of  a  troop  of  400  men,  he  had  brought  back  from  the 
mines  on  the  Peninsula  of  Sinai  a  convoy  of  gold  to  the  city 
of  Keft  (Coptos.)  As  nomarch  (or  governor  of  a  nome)  he 
had  earned  the  praises  of  his  sovereign  and  the  gratitude  of 
his  constituency. 

"I,"  he  says,  "  was  a  master  full  of  goodness  and  amiabil- 
ity ;  a  governor  who  loved  his  country.  For  years  I  exer- 
cised my  power  in  the  nome  of  Sah.  All  the  works  for  the 
royal  house  were  executed  through  my  care.  Thanks  were 


280  APPENDIX. 

extended  to  me  on  the  part  of  the  royal  house  for  the  tri- 
bute brought  in  by  me  in  horned  cattle.  I  carried  the  fruit 
of  all  my  toil  to  the  royal  house.  Nothing  was  stolen  from 
me  in  all  my  workshops.  I  labored  and  the  whole  nome 
was  in  activity.  Never  was  a  little  child  distressed  by  me  ; 
never  was  a  widow  maltreated  by  me  ;  never  have  I  troubled 
a  fisherman  on  the  waters  or  a  shepherd  in  the  pasture  fields. 
Never  was  there  a  pentarch  (foreman  of  five)  whose  men  I 
turned  aside  from  their  work.  Never  was  there  a  scarcity 
in  my  time,  never  a  starving  mouth  under  my  administra- 
tion, even  if  these  were  famine  years.  For,  see,  I  had  tilled 
all  the  fields  of  the  nome  of  Sah  clear  to  its  frontiers  on  the 
north  and  on  the  south.  I  made  its  inhabitants  live  upon 
its  products,  and  thus  there  were  no  starving  people  in  it. 
I  gave  equally  to  the  widow  and  to  the  married  woman,  nor 
did  I  set  the  great  before  the  little  in  the  distributions  that 
I  made.  And,  see,  the  Nile  was  in  great  inundation  ;  the 
owners  of  the  fields  and  of  the  orchards  were  full  of  hope 
for  a  fertile  year,  and  I  did  not  cut  the  branches  of  the  canaL 
etc.  etc." 

The  last  part  of  this  curious  inscription  in  which  the  nom- 
arch,  referring  to  a  famine  that  took  place  during  the  years 
of  his  administration,  makes  a  panegyric  in  his  own  behalf, 
for  having  warded  off  the  miseries  of  the  dearth  by  his  be- 
nevolent impartiality  toward  every  one,  has  struck  some  ob- 
servers as  a  pendant  to  the  history  of  Joseph  in  Egypt  and 
his  seven  famous  years  of  famine  in  that  country. 

A  mural  scene  on  the  same  tomb  recalls  still  more  vividly 
the  Biblical  legend.  It  represents  the  arrival  in  Egypt  of  a 
family  of  the  Semitic  race  of  the  Aam  or  Ammonites. 
Forced  by  causes  unknown,  by  a  famine,  perhaps,  they  have, 
like  the  sons  of  Jacob,  abandoned  their  country ;  they 
present  themselves,  thirty-seven  persons  in  number — men, 
women  and  children — before  Olmumhotep,  the  governor  of 
the  nome  of  Sah,  to  solicit  help  or  an  asylum  at  his  hands. 
A  temple  scribe  called  Neferhotep  is  offering  to  the  nomarch 
a  sheet  of  papyrus  covered  with  an  inscription  bearing  at 


APPENDIX.  283 

the  top  the  date  of  the  year  six  of  Usertesen  II.,  and  the 
number  of  the  strangers.  The  chief  or  sheik  of  the  little 
tribe,  named  Abu-sa,  first  respectfully  approaches  the  person 
of  Chnumhotep  and  offers  him  a  young  wild-goat  as  a 
present.  Behind  him  are  his  companions  armed  with  spears, 
clubs  and  bows  ;  their  women  clad  in  richly  colored  tunics, 
and  their  children  carried  in  wicker  paniers  slung  over  the 
backs  of  donkeys.  The  musician  and  minstrel  of  the  clan 
closes  the  march  playing  on  a  sort  of  lyre. 

Are  not  these  the  pioneers,  or,  if  the  term  be  preferable, 
the  forlorn  hope  of  the  vanguard  of  those  nomadic  hordes 
which  were,  at  a  later  period,  to  inundate  the  valley  of  the 
Nile? 


THE  details  collected  by  Herodotus  with  regard  to  the 
civil  and  private  life  of  the  Egyptians  are  of  nine  centuries 
later  date  than  the  epoch  of  Barneses  Mei-Amoun.  Those 
which  the  grottoes  of  Beni-Hassan  yield. us  relate  to  genera- 
tions long  preceding  that  conqueror.  Nevertheless,  the 
lapse  of  time  does  not  appear  to  have  introduced  any  notice- 
able dissimilarities  between  them.  We  think  that  we  can 
fill  them  out  with  ideas  upon  the  connection  of  temples  with 
temples  and  the  diplomatic  relations  of  sovereigns  with  sov- 
ereigns at  a  period  of  history  when  the  sceptre  of  Egypt 
was  still  held  by  the  Pharaohs  of  the  name  and  blood  of 
Barneses. 

These  items  of  information  are  yielded  us  by  a  stele  found 
at  Thebes  among  the  ruins  of  a  temple  of  Khons,  a  divinity 
who  appears  to  have  been  the  object  of  a  special  kind  of 
worship,  and  to  have  enjoyed  a  renown  that  was  propagated 
as  far  as  the  centre  of  Asia. 

•r  H  K.  STELE  OP  TMJ£  TEMPLE  OF  KHONS. 

....  His  Majesty  Barneses  XTT.  having  gone  to  Naha- 
rina  (Mesopotamia)  to  collect  the  annual  tribute  of  that 


284  APPENDIX. 

region ,  the  princes  and  chiefs  of  each  province  came  to 
prostrate  themselves  before  him,  and  the  natives  of  inferior 
rank,  stooping  beneath  burthens  of  gold,  of  lapis  lazuli, 
of  copper  and  of  precious  woods,  drew  near  to  lay  them  at 
his  feet. 

The  King  of  Bouchten  (Ecbatana  according  to  Dr. 
Brugsch)  came,  in  his  turn,  to  do  homage  to  His  Majesty 
and  to  solicit  peace.  He  had  with  him  his  eldest  daughter, 
a  young  and  handsome  woman,  who  at  once  captivated  the 
heart  of  Rameses  more  than  did  anything  else.  His  Majesty 
gave  her  the  title  of  Great  Queen,  the  name  of  Ra-Neferu, 
and  conducted  her  to  Egypt,  where  she  was  received  with 
solemn  pomp. 

In  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign,  when  His  Majesty  was 
celebrating  at  Thebes — that  capital  and  mistress  of  the  na- 
tions— the  grand  panegyric  of  his  father  Amrnon,  the  sun, 
the  distributor  of  thrones,  behold  the  arrival  of  a  messenger 
bearing  rich  presents  from  the  King  of  Bouchten  for  the 
queen,  was  announced  to  his  Majesty. 

On  being  admitted  to  the  presence  of  Rameses  XII.,  the 
envoy  saluted  His  Majesty  in  these  words :  "  Glory  to 
thee,  oh  sun  of  nine  peoples  ;  grant  to  us  the  breath  of  life  !" 
Then  prostrating  himself,  he  added  :  "  The  king  my  mas- 
ter sends  me  to  Thy  Holiness  because  of  Benten-rest,  the 
young  sister  of  the  Queen  Ra-Neferu.  A  secret  malady 
consumes  her  ;  will  Thy  Holiness  deign  to  send  to  her  one 
of  those  men  who  know  all  things,  such  as  there  are  around 
thee  ?" 

Then  the  King  said  :  "Let  there  be  assembled  before  me 
the  college  of  sacred  philosophers  and  the  doctors  skilled  in 
mysteries. 

So  soon  as  they  had  all  hastened  to  stand  in  array  in  His 
Majesty's  presence,  he  said  to  them :  "  I  have  summoned 
you  to  hear  and  to  obey.  Point  out  to  me  the  one  of  all 
of  you  whom  you  look  upon  as  the  firmest  of  heart,  the 
quickest  in  understanding  and  the  most  skillful  of  hand." 

The  recorder  of  sacred  writings,  Toth-em-hebi,  stepped 
forth  from  the  ranks  and  bowed  before  His  Majesty.  He 


APPENDIX.  285 

immediately  received  orders  to  repair  to  the  country  of 
Bouchten  with  the  royal  messenger. 

But  when  this  master  of  wisdom  and  science  had  arrived 
at  Bouchten,  and  was  placed  in  the  presence  of  the  spirit 
that  beset  the  Princess  Benten-rest,  he  found  himself  its 
inferior  and  dared  not  engage  in  contest  with  it. 

The  King  of  Bouchten  thereupon  sent  another  messenger 
to  Pharaoh,  saying  :  "  Sovereign  lord  !  oh  my  master  !  deign 
to  command  that  a  god  may  be  brought  to  the  country  of 
Bouchten  to  combat  this  evil  spirit." 

His  Holiness  was  then  still  at  Thebes,  celebrating,  in  the 
twenty-sixth  year  of  his  reign,  the  panegyric  of  Ammon. 
He  thereupon  went  to  the  temple  of  the  Theban  god 
Khons-Neferhotep,  and  thus  appealed  to  him  :  "  O  my  be- 
neficent Lord  !  I  come  to  thee  on  behalf  of  the  daughter  of 
the  King  of  Bouchten.  If  thou  wouldst  command  Khonsou, 
the  giver  of  counsel  who  subdues  rebels,  to  go  to  the  coun- 
try of  Bouchten,  endowng  him  with  some  of  thy  divine 
power,  I  will  cause  that  god  to  be  borne  thither  to  save  the 
daughter  of  the  king  my  father-in-law." 

Khons-Neferhotep,  the  patron  of  Thebes,  acquiesced  in 
His  Majesty's  wishes,  and,  four  times  over,  imparted  a  por- 
tion of  his  divine  virtue  to  the  god  Khonsou-Pa-ar-secher, 
who,  enclosed  in  a  brilliant  naos,  and  placed  upon  a  grand 
bari,  proceeded  upon  a  broad  car  toward  the  country  of 
Bouchten,  escorted  by  many  horsemen  riding  on  the  right 
and  on  the  left  of  him. 

When,  at  the  end  of  a  year  and  five  months,  the  god 
Khonsou-Pa-ar-secher  arrived  in  the  country  of  Bouchten, 
the  king,  accompanied  by  his  chieftains  and  his  soldiers,  came 
forth  to  meet  him,  and,  prostrating  himself  before  the  sacred 
bari,  cried  aloud  with  his  forehead  in  the  dust:  "Hail  to 
thee,  who  comest  to  us  by  order  of  the  King  Barneses !" 

When  the  god  had  reached  the  place  where  the  Princess 
Benten-rest  was,  the  spirit  that  beset  her  humiliated  itself 
before  Khonsou-Pa-ar-secher,  and  said  to  him :  "  Welcome 
to  thee,  mighty  god,  conqueror  of  those  who  rebel !  The 
strong  city  of  Bouchten  is  thy  domain  ;  its  inhabitants  bow 


286  APPENDIX. 

down  before  thee,  and  for  myself,  I  am  thy  slave  ;  I  shall  be 
no  hindrance  to  the  purpose  of  thy  journey,  but  shall  return 
to  the  place  whence  I  came.  Only  command  the  King  of 
Bouchten  to  make  a  sacrifice  in  my  honor." 

Then  Khoiisou-Pa-ar-secher  of  Thebes  said  graciously  to 
his  prophet :  "Let  the  King  Of  Bouchten  make  a  sacrifice 
honorable  to  this  spirit." 

While  the  god  Khonsou  and  the  spirit  were  thus  conver- 
sing, the  King  of  Bouchten,  filled  with  a  holy  fear,  was 
trembling  in  the  midst  of  his  soldiers.  He  celebrated  a  great 
festival  in  honor  of  Khonsou  and  of  the  spirit,  made  rich 
offerings  to  them,  and  his  daughter  Benten-rest  was  in 
stantly  cured,  and  the  spirit  withdrew  whither  he  saw  fit. 

Then  the  King  of  Bouchten  was  seized  with  extreme  de- 
light, as  also  were  all  bis  subjects.  Then  he  said  :  "  This 
god  ought  to  remain  in  the  country  of  Bouchten.  I  will 
not  let  him  go  back  to  Egypt. "  Thus  Khonsou-Pa-ar-se- 
cher  was  kept  three  years  and  nine  months  in  Bouchten ; 
but  at  the  end  of  that  time,  behold  the  King  of  Bouchten, 
lying  in  his  bed,  saw  this  god  leaving  his  naos  in  the  form 
of  a  golden  sparrow-hawk,  and  extending  his  wings  to  fly  to- 
ward Egypt.  And  the  king,  when  he  awoke,  was  seized 
with  an  inward  sickness.  He  then  said  to  the  priest  of 
Khousou-Pa-ar-secher  :  "  Let  him  leave  us  quickly  and 
return  to  Egypt :  cause  his  car  to  be  made  ready  1" 

When  the  King  of  Bouchten  caused  this  god  to  depart  for 
Egypt,  he  gave  him  numerous  and  costly  presents,  and  sol- 
diers and  horses  in  great  quantity.  And  when  the  god 
Khonsou-Pa-ar-secher  had  reached  the  temple  of  Khons- 
Neferhotep,  he  offered  him  the  presents  which  the  King  of 
Bouchten  had  given  him  in  the  form  of  all  sorts  of  good 
things,  and  kept  nothing  for  himself.  Khonsou-Pa-ar-secher 
of  Thebes  thus  returned  to  his  temple  in  peace  in  the  year 
33,  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  month  of  Mechir,  of  the 
King  Barneses  XIL,  reigning  eternally  like  the  sun. 


APPENDIX. 


287 


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all  full-page.  One  volume,  I2tno $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  14. 

Thunder  and  Lightning,  as  its  title  indicates,  deals  with  the  most  star- 
tling phenomena  of  nature.  The  writings  of  the  author,  M.  De  Fonvielle, 
have  attracted  very  general  attention  in  France,  as  well  on  account  of  the 
happy  manner  in  which  he  calls  his  readers'  attention  to  certain  facts  hereto- 
fore treated  in  scientific  works  only,  as  because  of  the  statement  of  other)- 


Illustrated  Library   of    Wonder*. 


often  observed  and  spoken  of,  over  which  he  appears  to  throw  quite  a  new 
light.  The  different  kinds  of  lightning — forked,  globular,  and  sheet  light- 
ning— are  described  ;  numerous  instances  of  the  effects  produced  by  this  won- 
derful agency  are  very  graphically  narrated  ;  and  thirty-nine  engravings,  nearly 
all  full-page,  illustrate  the  text  most  effectively.  The  volume  is  certain  to 
excite  popular  interest,  and  to  call  the  attention  of  persons  unaccustomed  to 
observe  to  some  of  the  wonderful  phenomena  which  surround  us  in  this 
world. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  In  the  book  before  us  the  dryness  of  detail  is  avoided.  The  author  has  given  us  all 
the  scientific  information  necessary,  and  yet  so  happily  united  interest  with  instruction  that 
no  person  who  has  the  smallest  particle  of  curiosity  to  investigate  the  subject  treated  of  can 
fail  to  be  interested  in  it." — N.  Y.  Herald. 

"  Any  boy  or  girl  who  wants  to  read  strange  stories  and  see  curious  pictures  of  the  do- 
ings of  ele&ricitv.  had  better  get  these  books." — Our  Young  Folks. 

"  A.  volume  which  cannot  fail  to  attract  attention  and  awaken  interest  in  persons  who 
have  not  been  accustomed  to  give  the  subject  any  thought." — Daily  Register  (New 
Haven}. 


'"THE  WONDERS  OF  HEAT.     By  ACHILLE  CAZIN. 

•*-  With  90  illustrations,  many  of  them  full-page,  and  a  colored 
frontispiece.  One  volume,  I2mo $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  \  tj. 

In  the  Wonders  of  Heat  the  principal  phenomena  are  presented  as  viewed 
from  the  standpoint  afforded  by  recent  discoveries.  Burning-glasses,  and  the 
remarkable  effects  produced  by  them,  are  described;  the  relations  between 
heat  and  electricity,  between  heat  and  cold,  and  the  comparative  effects  of 
each,  are  discussed ;  and  incidentally,  interesting  accounts  are  given  of  the 
mode  of  formation  of  glaciers,  of  Montgolfier's  balloon,  of  Davy's  safety- 
lamp,  of  the  methods  of  glass-blowing,  and  of  numerous  other  facts  in  nature 
and  processes  in  art  dependent  upon  the  influence  of  heat.  Like  the  other 
volumes  of  the  Library  of  Wonders,  this  is  illustrated  wherever  the  text 
gives  an  opportunity  for  explanation  by  this  method. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  From  the  first  to  the  very  last  page  the  interest  is  all-absorbing." — Albany  Evening 
Times. 

"  The  book  deserves,  as  it  will  doubtless  attain,  a  wide  circulation." — Pittsburg  Chrort 
icle. 


4  Illustrated  Library   of    Wonders.  _ 

"This  book  is  instructive  and  clear."  —  Independent. 

"  It  describes  and  explains  the  wonders  of  heat  in  a  manner  to  be  clearly  understood  by 
non-icientinc  readers."  —  Fhila.  Inquirer. 

animal  KntrUf0etue, 

E    INTELLIGENCE     OF    ANIMALS,     WITH 
ILLUSTRATIVE  ANECDOTES.  —  From  the  French  of  ERNEST 
MENAULT.     With  54  illustrations.     One  volume,  i2mo    .        $i   50 

Far  specimen  illustration  see  page   1  6. 

In  this  very  interesting  volume  there  are  grouped  together  a  great  num- 
ber of  fa<5ls  and  anecdotes  collected  from  original  sources,  and  from  the 
writings  of  the  most  eminent  naturalists  of  all  countries,  designed  to  illus- 
trate the  manifestations  of  intelligence  in  the  animal  creation.  Very  many 
novel  and  curious  fa<5ts  regarding  the  habits  of  Reptiles,  Birds,  and  Beasts 
are  narrated  in  the  most  charming  style,  and  hi  a  way  which  is  sure  to 
excite  the  desire  of  every  reader  for  wider  knowledge  of  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  subjects  in  the  whole  range  of  natural  history.  The  grace  and 
skill  displayed  in  the  illustrations,  which  are  very  numerous,  make  the  vol- 
ume singularly  attractive. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  May  be  recommended  as  very  entertaining."  —  London  Athenaeum. 
"  The  stories  are  of  real  value  to  those  who  take  any  interest  in  the  curious  habits  of 
animals."  —  Rochester  Democrat. 


3,300    YEARS   AGO;   OR,   RAMESES  THE 
GREAT.     By  F.  DE  LANOYE.    With  40  illustrations.     One 
volume,  I2mo     .........        $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  pa.gt  I7« 

This  volume  is  devoted  to  the  wonders  of  Ancient  Egypt  during  the  time 
of  the  Pharaohs  and  under  Sesostris,  the  period  of  its  greatest  splendor  and 
magnificence.  Her  monuments,  her  palaces,  her  pyramids,  and  her  works 
of  art  are  not  only  accurately  described  in  the  text,  but  reproduced  in  a 
series  of  very  attractive  illustrations  as  they  have  been  restored  by  French 
explorers,  aided  by  students  of  Egyptology.  While  the  volume  has  the 
attraction  of  being  devoted  to  a  subjeft  which  possesses  all  the  charms  of 
novelty  to  the  great  number  of  readers,  it  has  the  substantial  merit  of  dis- 
cussing, with  intelligence  and  careful  accuracy,  one  of  the  greatest  epochs 
in  the  world's  history. 


Illustrated  Library  of  Wonders. 


CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  I  think  this  a  good  book  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  designed.  It  is  brief  on  each 
head,  lively  and  graphic,  without  any  theatrical  artifices  ;  is  not  the  work  of  a  novice,  but 
of  a  real  scholar  in  Egyptology,  and,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained  now,  is  history."  — 
JAMES  C.  MOFFA  T,  Professor  in  Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

"The  volume  is  full  of  wonders."—  Hartford  Cournnt. 

"  Evidently  prepared  with  great  care."  —  Chicago  Evening  Journal. 

"  Not  merely  the  curious  in  antiquarian  matters  will  find  this  volume  attractive,  but  the 
general  reader  will  be  pleased,  entertained,  and  informed  by  it."  —  Portland  Argus. 

"  The  work  possesses  the  freshness  and  charm  of  romance,  and  cannot  fail  to  repay  all 
•who  glance  over  its  pages."  —  Philadelphia  City  Item. 


ADVENTURES    ON    THE    GREAT    HUNTING 
GROUNDS  OF  THE  WORLD.     By  VICTOR  MEUNIER. 
Illustrated  with  22  woodcuts.     One  volume  I2mo    .         .         $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  1  8. 

Besides  numerous  thrilling  adventures  judiciously  selected,  this  work  con- 
tains much  valuable  and  exceedingly  interesting  information  regarding  the 
different  animals,  adventures  with  which  are  narrated,  together  with  accu- 
rate descriptions  of  the  different  countries,  making  the  volume  not  only 
interesting,  but  instructive  in  a  remarkable  degree. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"This  is  a  very  attractive  volume  in  this  excellent  series."  —  Cleveland  Herald. 
"Cannot  fail  to  prove  entertaining  to  the  juvenile  reader."  —  Albion. 
"  The  adventures  are  gathered  from  the  histories  of  famous  travellers  and  explorers,  and 
have  the  merit  of  truth  as  well  as  interest."  —  IV.  Y.  Observer.  , 

"  Just  the  book  for  boys  during  the  coming  Winter  evenings."  —  Boston  Daily  Journal. 


Domjmt. 

WONDERS    OF    POMPEII.       By   MARC    MONNIER, 
With  22  illustrations.     One  volume  i2mo    .        .     $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  19. 

There  are  here  summed  up,  in  a  very  lively  and  graphic  style,  the  results 
of  the  discoveries  made  at  Pompeii  since  the  commencement  of  the  exten- 
sive excavations  there.  The  illustrations  represent  the  houses,  the  domes- 
tic utensils,  the  statues,  and  the  various  works  of  art,  as  investigation  gives 
every  reason  to  believe  that  they  existed  at  the  time  of  the  eruption. 


Illustrated  Library  of    Wonders. 


CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  It  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  works  on  Pompeii  that  have  been  published,  and  has 
this  advantage  over  all  others — in  that  it  records  the  results  of  excavations  to  the  latest 
date."— N.  Y.  Herald. 

"A  vsry  pleasant  and  inslr::£live  book." — Bait.  Meth.  Prat. 

"  It  gives  a  very  clear  and  accurate  account  of  the  buried  city." — Portland  Transcript. 

Stitiiime  in  Nature* 

THE   SUBLIME   IN    NATURE,    FROM    DESCRIP- 
TIONS   OF    CELEBRATED    TRAVELLERS    AND 
WRITERS.    By  FERDINAND  LANOYE.    Illustrated  with  48  wood- 
cuts.     One  volume  I2mo $i  50 

for  specimen  illustration  see  page  2O. 

The  Air  and  Atmospheric  Phenomena,  the  Ocean,  Mountains,  Volcanic 
Phenomena,  Rivers,  Falls  and  Cataracts,  Grottoes  and  Caverns,  and  the 
Phenomena  of  Vegetation,  are  described  in  this  volume,  and  in  the  most 
charming  manner  possible,  because  the  descriptions  given  have  been  selected 
from  the  writings  of  the  most  distinguished  authors  and  travellers.  The 
illustrations,  several  of  which  are  from  the  pencil  of  GUSTAVE  DoRfi,  re- 
produce scenes  in  this  country,  as  well  as  in  foreign  lands. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  As  a  hand-book  of  reference  to  the  natural  wonders  of  the  world  this  work  has  no 
luperior." — Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

"  The  illustrations  are  particularly  graphic,  and  in  some  cases  furnish  much  better  ideas 
of  the  phenomena  they  indicate  than  anything  short  of  an  actual  experience,  or  a  pano- 
ramic view  of  them  would  do." — A^.  Y.  Sunday  Times. 

Kty  Stm, 

THE  SUN.     By  AMEDEE  GUILLEMIN.     From  the  French 
by  T.  L.  PHIPSON,  Ph.D.     With  58  illustrations.      One 
volume  I2mo $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  pagt  21. 

M.  GUILLEMIN'S  well-known  work  upon  The  Heavens  has  secured  him 
a  wide  reputation  as  one  of  the  first  of  living  astronomical  writers  and  ob- 
servers. In  this  compact  treatise  he  discourses  familiarly  but  most  accu- 
rately and  entertainingly  of  the  Sun  as  the  source  of  light,  of  heat,  and  of 
chemical  action ;  of  its  influence  upon  living  1  eings ;  of  its  place  in  the 
Planetary  World ;  of  its  place  in  the  Sidereal  We  rid ;  of  its  physical  and 


Illustrated  Library  of  Wonders. 


chemical  constitution  ;  of  the  maintenance  of  Solar  Radiation,  and,  in  con- 
clusion, the  question  whether  the  Sun  is  inhabited,  is  examined.  The  work 
embraces  the  results  of  the  most  recent  investigations,  and  is  valuable  for 
its  fulness  and  accuracy  as  well  as  for  the  very  popular  way  in  which  the 
subject  is  presented. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  The  matter  of  the  volume  is  highly  interesting,  as  well  as  scientifically  complete  ;  the 
style  is  clear  and  simple,  and  the  illustrations  excellent." — N.  Y.  Daily  Tribune. 

"  For  the  first  time,  the  fullest  and  latest  information  about  the  Sun  has  been  comprised 
in  a  single  volume." — Philadelphia  Press. 

"The  work  is  intensely  interesting.  It  is  written  in  a  style  which  must  commend  itself 
to  the  general  reader,  and  imparts  a  vast  fund  of  information  in  language  free  from  astrono 
mical  or  other  scientific  technicalities." — Albany  Evening  "Journal. 

"The  latest  discoveries  of  science  are  set  forth  in  a  popular  and  attractive  style." — Port' 
land  Transcript. 

"  Conveys,  in  a  graphic  form,  the  present  amount  of  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  luminous 
centre  of  our  solar  system." — Boston  Congregationalist. 


WONDERS  OF  GLASS-MAKING ;  ITS  DESCRIPTION 
AND  HISTORY  FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  THE 
PRESENT.     By  A.  SAUZAY.     With  63  illustrations  on  wood.     One 
volume  I2mo $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  22. 

The  title  of  this  work  very  accurately  indicates  its  character.  It  is  writ- 
ten in  an  exceedingly  lively  and  graphic  style,  and  the  useful  and  ornamen- 
tal applications  of  glass  are  fully  described.  The  illustrations  represent, 
among  other  things,  the  mirror  of  Marie  de  Medici  and  various  articles 
manufactured  from  glass  which  have,  from  their  unique  character,  or  the 
associations  connected  with  them,  acquired  historical  interest 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"All  the  information  which  the  general  reader  needs  on  the  subject  will  be  found  heie 
in  a  very  intelligible  and  attractive  form." — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

"  Tells  about  every  branch  of  this  curious  manufacture,  tracing  its  progress  from  the  re- 
motest ages,  and  omitting  not  one  point  upon  which  information  can  be  desired." — Boston 
Post. 

"A  very  useful  and  interesting  book." — N.  Y.  Cititen. 


8  Illustrated  Library  of  Wonders. 

"  An  extremely  pleasant  and  useful  little  book." — N.  Y.  Sunday  Times. 
"  The  book  will  well  repay  perusal." — ff.  Y.  Globe. 

A  most  interesting  volume." — Portland  Argus. 
"  Graphically  told."— N.  Y.  Albion. 

"  Young  people  and  old  will  derive  equal  benefit  and  pleasure  from  its  perusal." — 
ff.  Y.  Ch.  Intelligence. 

Ktaltan  art* 

WONDERS  OF  ITALIAN  ART.     By  Louis  VIARDOT. 
With  28  illustrations.     One  volume  I2mo        .        $i   50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  23. 

As  a  compact,  readable,  and  instructive  manual  upon  a  subject  the  ex- 
position of  which  has  heretofore  been  confined  to  ambitious  and  expensive 
treatises,  this  volume  has  no  equal.  In  style  it  is  clear  and  attractive  ;  its 
critical  estimates  are  based  upon  thorough  and  extensive  knowledge  and 
sound  judgment,  and  the  illustrations  reproduce,  as  accurately  as  wood 
engravings  can  do,  the  leading  works  of  the  famous  Italian  masters,  while 
anecdotes  of  these  great  artists  and  curious  facts  regarding  their  works 
give  popular  interest  to  the  volume. 

Efte  Tlnnuau  l*otn>. 

WONDERS    OF   THE    HUMAN    BODY.     From  the 
French  of  A.  LE  PILEUR,  Doctor  of  Medicine.     Illustrated 
by  45  Engravings  by  LEVEiLLis.      One  volume  I2mo        .       $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  24. 

While  sufficiently  minute  in  anatomical  and  physiological  details  to  satisfy 
those  who  desire  to  go  deeper  into  such  studies  than  many  may  deem 
necessary,  this  work  is  nevertheless  written  so  that  it  may  form  part  of  the 
domestic  library.  Mothers  and  daughters  may  read  it  without  being  re- 
pelled or  shocked ;  and  the  young  will  find  their  interest  sustained  by 
incidental  digressions  to  more  attractive  matters.  Such  are  the  pages  re- 
ferring to  phrenology  and  to  music,  which  accompany  the  anatomical 
description  of  the  skull  and  of  the  organs  of  voice  ;  and  the  chapter  on 
artistic  expression  which  closes  the  book.  Numerous  simple  but  at- 
tractive engravings  elucidate  the  work. 


Illustrated  Library  of  Wonders. 


WONDERS  OF  ARCHITECTURE.     Translated  from 
the  French  of  M.  LEFJSVRE  ;  to  which  is  added  a  chapter 
on  English  Architecture  by  R.  DONALD.     With  50  illustrations. 
One  volume  I2mo         ........     $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  25. 

The  object  of  the  Wonders  of  Architefture  is  to  supply,  in  as  accessible 
and  popular  a  form  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  admits,  a  connected  and 
comprehensive  sketch  of  the  chief  architectural  achievements  of  ancient 
and  modern  times.  Commencing  with  the  rudest  dawnings  of  architectural 
science  as  exemplified  in  the  Celtic  monuments,  a  carefully  compiled  and 
authentic  record  is  given  of  the  most  remarkable  temples,  palaces,  columns, 
towers,  cathedrals,  bridges,  viaducts,  churches,  and  buildings  of  every 
description  which  the  genius  of  man  has  constructed  ;  and  as  these  are  all 
described  in  chronological  order,  according  to  the  eras  to  which  they  belong, 
they  form  a  connected  narrative  of  the  development  of  architecture,  in 
which  the  history  and  progress  of  the  art  can  be  authentically  traced. 
Care  has  been  taken  to  popularize  the  theme  as  much  as  possible,  to  make 
the  descriptions  plain  and  vivid,  to  render  the  text  free  from  mere  techni 
calities,  and  to  convey  a  correct  and  truthful  impression  of  the  various 
objects  that  are  enumerated. 


BOTTOM  OF  THE   SEA.      By  L.  SONREL.     Translated 
and  edited  by  ELIHU  RICH,  translator  of  "  Cazin's  Heat," 
&c.,  with  68  woodcuts.     (Printed  on  Tinted  Paper)   One  vol  I2mo 

$r    50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  26. 

Written  in  a  popular  and  attractive  style,  this  volume  affords  much  use- 
ful information  about  the  sea,  its  depth,  color,  and  temperature  ;  its  action 
in  deep  water  and  on  the  shores  ;  the  exuberance  of  life  in  the  depths  of 
the  ocean,  and  the  numberless  phenomena,  anecdotes,  adventures,  and 
perils  connected  therewith.  The  illustrations  are  very  numerous,  and 
specially  graphic  and  attractive. 

CRITICAL   NOTICE. 

This  book  is  well  illustrated  throughout,  and  is  admirably  adapted  to  t.'tc^e  wlio 
require  light  scientific  reading.—  Nature, 


to  Illustrated  Library  of  Wonders. 

7i.f&i)ttjottsrs  an* 

LIGHTHOUSES  AND  LIGHTSHIPS.     By  W.  H,  D. 
ADAMS.      With   sixty   illustrations.      One   volume    I2mo- 
Printed  on  tinted  paper  .......        $i  50 

The  aim  of  this  volume  is  to  furnish  in  a  popular  and  intelligible  form  a 
description  of  the  Lighthouse  as  it  is  and  as  it  was,  of  the  rude  Roman 
pharos,  or  old  sea-tower,  with  its  flickering  fire  of  wood  or  coal,  and  the 
modern  Lighthouse,  shapely  and  yet  substantial,  with  its  powerful  illumina- 
ting apparatus  of  lamps  and  lenses,  shining  ten,  or  twelve,  or  twenty  miles 
across  the  waters.  The  author  gives  a  descriptive  and  historical  account  of 
their  mode  of  construction  and  organization,  based  on  the  best  authorities, 
and  revised  by  competent  critics.  Sketches  are  furnished  of  the  most  re- 
markable Lighthouses  in  the  Old  World,  and  a  graphic  narration  is  presented 
of  the  mode  of  life  of  their  keepers. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 
"The  book  is  full  of  interest."  —  JV.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"The  whole  subject  is  treated  in  a  manner  at  once  interesting  and  instructive."— 
Rochester  Democrat. 
"The  illustrations  are  full,  and  excellently  engraved."  —  Phil.  Morning  Post. 


WONDERS    OF    ACOUSTICS;    or,  THE    PHE- 
_L      NOMEMA  OF  SOUND.     By  R.  RADAU.     With  I  io  illustra- 
tions.    One  volume  1  2mo.     Printed  on  tinted  paper    .      .    $i  50 

For  specimen  illustration  see  page  27. 

No  overweight  of  technicalities  encumber  the  author's  ample  and  exceed- 
ingly instructive  disquisition  ;  but  by  presenting  the  results  of  curious  inves- 
tigation, by  anecdote,  by  all  manner  of  striking  illustration,  and  by  the  aid 
of  numerous  pictures,  he  throws  a  popular  interest  about  one  of  the  most 
suggestive  and  beautiful  of  the  sciences.  The  book  opens  with  an  attractive 
chapter  on  "  Sound  in  Nature,"  in  which  the  language  of  animals,  nocturnal 
life  in  the  forests,  and  kindred  subjects  are  discussed.  Among  the  topics 
treated  of  later  in  the  work  are  such  as  "Effects  of  Sound,  on  Living 
Beings,"  "Velocity  of  Sound,"  "The  Notes,"  "The  Voice,  Music,  and 
Science."  This  volume  forms  a  valuable  addition  to  the  series. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000713200     4 


